Turkey and the United States will seek to iron out a number of differences between NATO allies during the visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to Washington, writes AP NEWS. But the hopes are low.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will meet with US counterpart Anthony Blinken in Washington on Wednesday. The administration of US President Joe Biden has kept its distance from Turkey due to the increasingly authoritarian course of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the policy of restricting rights and freedoms..

However, located at the crossroads between East and West, Turkey remains strategically important to Washington.. Last year, the Turkish government helped negotiate a landmark agreement between Russia and Ukraine that allowed millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets, averting a food crisis amid war..

NATO allies often disagree on a number of issues, with the biggest disputes over Turkey's purchase of Russian-made missiles and US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria..

The acquisition of the S-400 air defense system in 2017 led to sanctions and the exclusion of Turkey from the development program for the new generation F-35 fighter. Having lost the opportunity to acquire the F-35, Ankara is currently trying to replenish its fighter fleet with F-16 aircraft. But the deal is facing opposition in Congress..

This week, Cavusoglu expressed confidence that the deal to acquire 40 F-16 fighters, as well as technology to upgrade the existing fleet, will overcome congressional obstacles..

" If the administration stands firm on its. then there will be no problem.

U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel responded on Friday by telling media that the Biden administration is also seeking congressional approval for F-35 supplies to Greece, another NATO member and neighbor Turkey, with which it has a lot of disagreements..

In Syria, US support for the Kurdish YPG paramilitary group since 2014 has angered Ankara over ties between the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against Turkey for 39 years and is listed as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union..

YPG support has led senior Turkish officials to accuse Washington of links to terrorist attacks, such as the November bombing in Istanbul that killed six people..

US concerns about Ankara's cordial relations with the Kremlin intensified after the start of the war in Ukraine. While Turkey’s ties to Moscow have led to breakthroughs such as a grain deal and a prisoner swap, Washington is concerned that sanctions against Russia over its unmotivated attack on Ukraine may not work as levels have risen over the past year..

Ankara's delay in ratifying Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership bids heighten tensions between allies.

Turkey's recent attempts to move closer to Syria after a decade of bitter hostility have led to new tensions with the United States..

Following a meeting between Syrian and Turkish defense ministers in Moscow last month, the US State Department reiterated its unwillingness to normalize relations with Damascus..

On Thursday, the department's chief spokesman, Ned Price, told a regular media briefing that "

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The US military also warned that a possible Turkish operation against the YPG in northern Syria could destabilize the region and revive the Islamic State group..

In another longstanding dispute, the U.S. Supreme Court was due to hear the Halkbank case on Tuesday..

Turkish state lender charged with money laundering, bank fraud and conspiracy for allegedly helping Iran bypass sanctions.

Recall that earlier Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke out in support of the peace plan of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which provides for the withdrawal of Ukraine to the 1991 borders, reparations and a tribunal for Russian war criminals.. During a visit to Africa, Cavusoglu said that Turkey believes in the end of the war at the negotiating table.