TOP ADVISOR IN WASHINGTON AHEAD OF OBAMA VISIT

Today’s Zaman
March 18 2009
Turkey

Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy advisor of Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has arrived in the US capital for talks with
administration officials and members of Congress, the Anatolia news
agency said yesterday in a report filed from Washington.

The purpose of Davutoglu’s visit is to discuss bilateral relations
between the two NATO allies ahead of a planned visit to Turkey by US
President Barack Obama in early April, the agency said, noting that
the top advisor would also participate in private meetings at some
Washington-based think tanks.

Before returning Turkey, Davutoglu will travel to New Jersey, where
he will deliver a speech on Turkey’s foreign policy at Princeton
University, the agency said.

During a visit last October to Washington where he had talks with the
aides of then-Democratic candidate for US president, Obama, and also
his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, Davutoglu had warned
the future US administration against endorsing Armenian claims of
genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, saying this could hurt
a recent thawing of Turkish-Armenian relations and torpedo ties with
the United States.