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Turkish PM to meet Bush, Annan on US trip
31.5.2005
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ANKARA, May 31, 2005 (AFP) - 10h48 - Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold talks
with US President George W. Bush and UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan during a trip to the United
States from June 7 to 11, his office said Tuesday.
The meeting between Erdogan on Bush on June 8 in
Washington will follow a period of chilly ties
between the two NATO allies over differences in
their policies on Iraq.
Turkish-US ties suffered a blow in 2003 when the
Turkish parliament denied US troops access to
Turkish territory to open a planned northern front
during its invasion of Iraq.
Relations were further strained by US reluctance to
take military action against Turkish Kurd rebels in
northern Iraq and Ankara's concerns over too the
extent of power accorded to the Kurds in post-war
Iraq.
"This meeting will provide an opportunity to
invigorate US-Turkish cooperation with respect to
Turkey's European Union aspirations, and to
strengthen our work together to advance freedom in
Iraq and the broader Middle East, Central Asia and
the Caucasus," the White House said in a statement
last week.
On June 9, Erdogan will meet Annan in New York to
discuss prospects of jumpstarting stalled peace
talks on Cyprus, which has been divided along ethnic
lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north of
the island in response to a Greek Cypriot coup
aiming to unite the island with Greece.
International peace efforts have been on hold since
a UN reunification plan was voted down by the
island's internationally-recognised Greek Cypriots,
even though the breakaway Turkish Cypriots rallied
behind it.
AFP
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