The US administration has expressed its willingness to deepen the existing strategic partnership with Turkey, Today’s Zaman reported.

Mike Hammer, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman, was asked to comment on Turkey-US relations while delivering a briefing on “The Obama Administration at One Year,” at the US State Department’s Foreign Press Center in Washington, DC, on Friday.

“I think what you saw in terms of the bilateral relationship with Turkey is the president’s recognition of this important strategic partnership; not only is Turkey a NATO ally but also an important country with great linkages into the Muslim world. And that was a primary reason why as part of our first trip to Europe we stopped in Turkey and we have been working with the Turkish government to advance that relationship and to work on a number of issues of common interest. Here again, it is in our interest to further deepen that strategic partnership and we hope that, you know, in the coming year we will continue to see even more progress. On occasion, again we will talk about some issues where there are some differences of opinion but I think overall that the relationship is absolutely excellent,” Hammer said. “The president enjoyed meeting both President [Abdullah] Gül and Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan and I fully anticipate that they will continue to have contact.”