SINIRLIOGLU ARRIVES IN WASHINGTON FOR OFFICIAL VISIT

Today’s Zaman
Feb 16 2010
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu arrived
in Washington on Monday for a series of talks with US officials on
bilateral ties between Turkey and the United States.

The undersecretary is set for a series of meetings with officials at
the US State Department and the National Security Council. Sinirlioglu
will focus on bilateral ties between the two countries as well as
international issues during his talks. Diplomatic sources say the
undersecretary will not focus on any single issue during his meetings
but will discuss many recent developments, including those in the
Caucasus and the Balkans.

The visit has come shortly after Rep. Howard Berman of California,
the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
said last week that he intended to call a committee vote on March
4 on a non-binding resolution that would call on President Barack
Obama to ensure that US policy formally refers to the killings of
Armenians in Anatolia during World War I as "genocide" and to use
that term when he delivers his annual message on the issue in April —
something Obama avoided doing last year.

The Turkish diplomat is expected to express Turkey’s concerns over
the planned vote during his visit. Sinirlioglu will meet with the
US special envoy for Eurasian energy affairs, Ambassador Richard
Morningstar, US Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg and
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip
H. Gordon. He is set to return to Turkey on Wednesday evening.

The undersecretary is accompanied by Namık Tan, the new Turkish
ambassador to Washington. Tan will officially assume office after
presenting his credentials.