Meet in June : Erdogan, Biden

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Joe Biden  will hold their first bilateral meeting in June. The meeting, to take place on the sidelines of the June 14 NATO leaders meeting in Brussels, Belgium, will be used "to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues," after the leaders held a bilateral telephone call.

Erdogan and Biden agreed on the strategic character of the bilateral relationship and the importance of working together to build greater cooperation on issues of mutual interest, the Turkish presidency said in a statement. 

Erdogan noted that addressing the issues of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization's (FETO) presence in the US and Washington's support for the YPG/PYD/PKK terror group in Syria is important to advancing relations between the two countries, the statement added. It was the first phone contact between Erdogan and Biden since the US president assumed office in January. The two leaders agreed to work together to improve cooperation, it added.

Following the Turkish and American leaders' phone call, Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had another phone call, according to the presidential office in Ankara. Kalin and Sullivan discussed details of topics that both presidents talked about. Both officials also expressed the pleasure of the meeting decision for the leaders despite the current disputes. It also stated that common and strategic interests should be initiated on the basis of mutual respect between Turkey and US relations.

Kalin and Sullivan's phone conversation was not the only one in which officials spoke after Erdogan and Biden’s phone call. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also held a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on late Friday, according to diplomatic sources. Both top diplomats focused on the follow up to issues discussed by both presidents.

And other Israeli police have scuffled with Palestinians for a second night in occupied East Jerusalem, amid mounting tensions over a ban on gatherings and anger fuelled by videos posted of attacks. The fresh violence came after clashes overnight Thursday, in which the Palestinian Red Crescent reported at least 105 wounded, of whom around 20 were transferred to hospital, while Israeli police said 20 officers had been injured. It flared on Thursday, outside one of the entrances to the walled Old City, after police had barred access to some areas where Palestinians usually gather in large numbers during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Tensions were fuelled by the arrival of far-right Jews at the end of a march during which they harassed Palestinians and chanted "death to Arabs." After calm during daylight hours on Friday, scuffles broke out again as thousands of Muslim worshippers left the Al Aqsa Mosque compound after evening prayers, when they found themselves confronted by dozens of armed police, including officers on horseback.

Clashes broke out between worshippers and police, with water bottles hurled at officers who fired stun grenades to disperse the crowd. Hundreds of Palestinians also gathered on Friday at the Qalandiya crossing between Jerusalem and the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, police said.

There have been nightly disturbances in the area since the start of Ramadan on April 13, with Palestinians outraged over police blocking access to the promenade around the walls, a popular gathering place after the end of the daytime Ramadan fast. Meanwhile, three rockets were fired from the Gaza on Friday night towards southern Israel, the army said. One rocket was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system and the two others shot down near the barrier between the Gaza and the Jewish state, which is heavily guarded by the Israeli army.

Police said that after night prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque on Thursday "hundreds of rioters began disrupting the order violently, including throwing stones and objects at forces." Stun grenades were fired and water cannons deployed to disperse the "rioters" and force them towards less central areas of occupied East Jerusalem, they said. "It was like a war zone; it was dangerous," a Palestinian who was near the clashes outside the Old City told AFP, of the violence on Thursday. "That's why I left the place."

On Thursday night, the Israeli far-right group Lehava organised a march ending opposite the Old City attended by hundreds to protest the anti-Jewish violence. Police erected barriers to keep them from entering the mainly Palestinian location.