U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in New York to discuss a number of regional issues, including developments in Israel, Syria, Egypt, Libya as well as Armenia-Turkey ties.

At a background briefing on the meeting, the Secretary expressed Armenia and the United States’ continued interest in seeing normalization of the relationship between Turkey and Armenia.

As was further noted, US cooperates with Turkey extensively on counterterrorism and specifically on the challenges of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), which, according to Clinton, is “a terrorist threat not just to Turkey but to the United States as well.”

Dwelling on Turkey-Israel relationship, the Secretary expressed regret that they weren’t able, in recent days and weeks, to overcome their differences, however, encouraging Turkey to keep the door open. “These are both two close friends and allies of the United States and we want to see them repair their relationship,” Clinton noted, encouraging both countries to avoid any steps that would close that door; on the contrary, to actively seek ways that they can repair that important relationship with Israel.