Erdogan calls for removing obstacles in defense cooperation between Turkey and the U.S.

Turkey is ready to expand cooperation with the United States in energy, including nuclear power and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"We are ready to develop cooperation with America in such areas as energy, including nuclear energy and LNG, civil aviation and high technologies," Erdogan said, speaking in New York, as quoted by the Haberturk television channel.

Erdogan, who is in New York to take part in the 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, attended the event "100 Years of Friendship: Turkey — United States of America," held at one of the city's restaurants.

The Turkish president noted that Ankara is interested in further expanding engagement with Washington in these areas.

Separately, Erdogan addressed the defense industry, which he called one of the traditionally strongest areas of the Turkish-American partnership.

According to him, it is necessary to develop cooperation in the defense sphere both at the bilateral level and within NATO.

Erdogan stated that Turkey and the United States intend to remove the existing obstacles in defense cooperation and give it new momentum.

"We want, leaving behind the obstacles that should not exist at all between two allies, to give our relations new momentum," the Turkish leader said.

According to him, about 20 years ago Turkey's defense export volume amounted to only 248 million dollars a year, while now it exceeds 10 billion dollars.

The president also stated that Turkey's share in global exports of defense products has grown by more than 120% compared with the figure of five years ago.