Obama’s envoy on ISIL holds talks with top civilian, military officials in Ankara

Sevil Erkuş ANKARA

Coordinator of the international effort against ISIL John Allen arrived in Ankara for talks with top civilian and military officials. AFP Photo

Just weeks after his last visit to Turkey, U.S. President Barack Obama’s special envoy for coalition efforts against jihadists in Iraq and Syria, John Allen, is holding talks with top civilian and military officials in Ankara.

“General Allen is in Ankara, meeting with senior officials to continue ongoing discussions about countering ISIL [the Islamic of State in Iraq and the Levant],” a U.S. official, who requested anonymity, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Nov. 19.

Allen, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, was set to meet Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu before noon, and was scheduled to hold talks with senior military officials at the General Staff headquarters later in the day.

Allen had also held talks in Ankara in the first half of October.