PM Erdoğan mulling visit to Washington

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

PM Erdoğan and President Obama met most recently in June 2012. Selahattin Sönmez, Daily News photo

Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay has revealed that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to pay a visit to the United States in February.

In an interview with daily Star published yesterday, Atalay said he had received an invitation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and that he would be visiting the U.S. in order to make preparations for Erdoğan’s visit.

“It has not been confirmed yet, but Prime Minister Erdoğan will travel to Washington around February. Planning is being done. Before that, I have received an invitation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I will go first and we’ll do the preparations before the leaders’ meeting,” he said.

No date has yet been set for any visit by Erdoğan to the U.S., officials from the prime minister’s office told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday, while confirming that Erdoğan did intend to make such a trip. The required arrangements will first of all have to be carried out by diplomats on the both sides, the officials added. Atalay’s remarks concerning the possible visit came within the framework of his remarks underlining the need for international cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has many bases in northern Iraq.

“The U.S. is an influential country in Iraq and northern Iraq. It is giving intelligence support to Turkey in our cross border operations in the fight against terror, but not at the level we expect,” he said.