Top US commander arrives in Ankara amid regional tensions

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

AFP photo

The United States’ top commander arrived in Ankara on Jan. 5 for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart amid an escalation in regional tensions.

Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was welcomed at Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport by Turkish and American officials. 

Dunford is scheduled to meet with Chief of Turkish General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar at the headquarters of the Turkish General Staff on Jan. 6.

The fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and developments in northern Syria will be at the top of the meeting’s agenda, a Turkish source told Hürriyet Daily News.

Ankara will convey unease over the movement of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to the west of the Euphrates River in northern Syria, sources added.