TurKey–Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday congratulated Joe Biden on his victory over Donald Trump in the US presidential election, urging closer ties between the two NATO allies.

Erdogan’s statement came a full three days after US media called the election in Biden’s favor, underscoring the close personal bond the Turkish leader enjoyed with Trump.

Erdogan’s statement came a full three days after US media called the election in Biden’s favor, underscoring the close personal bond the Turkish leader enjoyed with Trump.

“I congratulate you on your election success and convey my sincere wishes for the peace and welfare of the US people,” Erdogan said in a statement published by his office, urging “strong cooperation” between the sides.

Other issues standing between Ankara and Washington include Turkey’s purchase of a high-tech Russian missile defense system, and US refusal to extradite a Muslim cleric Erdogan blames for staging a failed 2016 coup.

“The challenges we face today, on the global and regional levels, require us to further develop and strengthen those relations, which are based in mutual interests and shared values,” Erdogan said.

Turkish officials have been  alarmed by an intervew Biden gave to The New York Times in December in which he called Erdogan an “autocrat.”

Biden criticized the Turkish leader’s policies towards the Kurds and said Washington needed to “embolden” his rivals to allow them “to take on and defeat Erdogan.”

Erdogan’s spokesman said in August that the remarks showed “pure ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy.”

The Turkish leader did not directly address them in his statement Tuesday.

“I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the US and Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Analysts pointed out that in his tweets and subsequent remarks to the cabinet, Netanyahu, like Erdogan, did not address Biden as “president-elect” and did not explicitly state that the former vice president and Delaware senator had won the elections.