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Turkish FM Gul off to US for talks with
Rice
4.7.2006
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ANKARA, July 4,
-- Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has flown
to the United States for talks with Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, aimed at giving a new boost
to bilateral ties, badly hurt by the US-led war in
Iraq.
Gul was scheduled to hold talks with Rice as well as
with National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on
Wednesday.
In remarks to reporters at the Ankara airport, Gul
said he and Rice would unveil a "common vision
document" outlining the two NATO allies' shared
positions on international affairs.
He said the paper was not a treaty but a document
"outlining a common vision on which both countries
will work and expend efforts."
Turkish-US relations took a severe blow ahead of
Iraq's occupation in 2003 when the Turkish
parliament rejected Washington's request to deploy
soldiers in Turkey, scuppering plans for a northern
invasion of Iraq.
Relations have also suffered due to the United
States' reluctance to crack down on rebels from the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
blacklisted as a terrorist group by both Ankara and
Washington, who enjoy safe haven in northern Iraq.
PKK violence has significantly increased over the
past two years, with mounting clashes between the
army and the rebels in the countryside and a wave of
deadly bombings blamed on the rebels in urban
centers.
During a visit to Ankara in April, Rice said
Washington was committed to support Turkey's
struggle against the PKK, but said measures to curb
the rebels should not complicate the already
difficult security situation in Iraq.
She called for the revival of trilateral talks
between Turkey, Iraq and the United States to
discuss measures against the PKK.
A senior Turkish diplomat said the row over the
nuclear program of Iran, Turkey's eastern neighbor,
would be also high on the agenda of Gul's talks with
Rice.
In an effort coordinated with Washington and the
European Union, Gul went to Tehran in late June in a
bid to cajole Iranian leaders into accepting a
proposal from Western powers to resolve the dispute
peacefully.
The Cyprus conflict and its repercussions on
Turkey's EU membership bid will be also discussed,
the diplomat said.
AFP
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