US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s Feb. 16 visit to Ankara, against the backdrop of unprecedented tensions between the two countries, appears to have averted a “train crash in ties,” as one Turkish analyst put it. That the sides are talking now instead of hurling open or barely shrouded threats at each other is a positive development, seasoned diplomats say.

In an article for Hurriyet, retired ambassador Oguz Celikkol pointed out that Tillerson was immediately preceded by US national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief adviser Ibrahim Kalin in Istanbul, as well as talks between US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his Turkish counterpart Nurettin Canikli in Brussels on the sidelines of a NATO gathering.

“A better atmosphere has emerged in both capitals, compared to a week ago, for ties to be repaired and normalized, and for trust to be reinstated in relations,” Celikkol wrote.

Nevertheless, Tillerson’s extended talks with Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu appear to have produced few if any concrete solutions to contentious issues. They resulted instead in a general understanding of the need to normalize ties. The sides agreed to establish what they are referring to as a set of “mechanisms” that will start working by mid-March to address outstanding issues.