President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sought common ground on counterterrorism and Middle East policy on Tuesday, September 20, even as Washington pressed Ankara to ease tensions with close U.S. ally Israel.

Their talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly came as a showdown loomed this week over Palestinian statehood at the world body, another source of rising tensions in a region in political upheaval, Today’s Zaman reported.

"The president underscored his interest in seeing a resolution of that issue between those two countries and encouraged continuing work toward that end," White House adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall told reporters after the meeting, saying Obama also emphasized the need to calm tensions throughout the region.

White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama would make the same points to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he meets him on Wednesday.

The two leaders also discussed Syria and agreed on the need to increase pressure on Assad and agreed to consult on possible further steps that "could include sanctions, political pressure, other measures."

Obama and Erdoğan, in their public comments to reporters, focused on deadly attacks in Turkey on Tuesday that they agreed underscored the need for cooperation on counterterrorism.

"This reminds us that terrorism exists in many parts of the world, and Turkey and the United States are going to be strong partners in preventing terrorism," Obama said.