HIGH-RANKING TURKISH OFFICIALS TO VISIT WASHINGTON IN APRIL

Today’s Zaman
April 8 2010
Turkey

After a month of strained Turkish-American relations, several
high-ranking officials are scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., in
April, following the return of Turkey’s top US envoy, Namık Tan,
to his post this week.

The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ approval of the Armenian
"genocide" resolution, which labels ethnic clashes between Armenian
and Turkish communities in 1915 as "genocide," on March 4, despite
pressure from the Obama administration and Turkey to drop the matter,
has shaken diplomatic relations between the US and Turkey. Turkey
reduced its relations with the US to a "minimum" and announced that
some trips to the US had been cancelled.

However, this month will see several high-level visits to Washington,
starting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s scheduled visit to
the US capital on April 12-13 to attend the Nuclear Security Summit,
accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Energy and Natural
Resources Minister Taner Yıldız.

The decision to take the trips came after the US administration
delivered positive messages about US-Turkish relations.

In addition, Labor and Social Security Minister Omer Dincer has also
been invited to a meeting of G-20 labor ministers on April 20-21. The
labor ministers’ meeting will focus on creating new jobs.

On April 24-25, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank will host their spring meetings in Washington. Turkish State
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan is expected to attend
the spring meetings.