Obama's BFF Turkish PM Erdoğan set to embark on US visit on May 16.(HD).Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s long-expected meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama will take place on May 16, the Hürriyet Daily News has learned from official sources. An invitation letter to Erdoğan was extended to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. The ministry and the office of the prime minister have now started to work on the program of Erdoğan, who is expected to depart for the U.S. one or two days before his scheduled meeting.
The intention for a prime ministerial visit to Washington was brought to the attention of the Obama administration after the presidential elections in the U.S., but disagreements over a number of issues and Turkey’s ongoing dispute with Israel nixed Ankara’s plans. The visit could only be possible after Israeli apologized to Turkey and Turkey accepted this apology, under the mediation of Obama, who played a crucial role in the process. “The visit of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Washington was fixed in a phone conversation on the day Israel apologized to Turkey,” diplomatic sources said. Erdoğan and Obama had a phone conversation on March 22, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read the apology statement on the phone.
The agenda of Erdoğan’s meeting with Obama will be fully-loaded, ranging from Turkey’s current peace process to the turmoil in Syria, from the developments in Cyprus to Ankara’s ambitious energy deals with northern Iraq. Along with these cases, one of the most important issues will be the Turkish-Israeli normalization process. In a demonstration of the importance attached to this normalization process, Washington is continuing to closely monitor the steps taken and those that will be taken. This monitoring process is accompanied by urgings to both sides not to break this positive climate. Hmmm.......no word about the trade with Iran , i guess there are no sanctions when it comes to Turkey?Read the full story here.
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