Hillary Clinton in Turkey to Discuss Libya & Syria

After taking part in a meeting of the Libya Contact Group in Istanbul today, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will pay a bilateral working visit that was earlier postponed due to political turmoil in the Middle East.

While in Turkey, in addition to her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, Clinton will also meet with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the situation in Libya and Syria and a full range of bilateral and multilateral issues.

US Republican senators will be watching closely to see if she pushes an agreement to station US missile defense radar in Turkey, an agreement many of them oppose, foreign policy blog The Cable reported on Wednesday.

The GOP senators instead want the radar to be based in either Georgia or Azerbaijan, arguing that these two countries are better locations for defense against a missile attack from Iran, said the blog.

“But more broadly, they are concerned that Ankara will place a number of onerous restrictions on the radar, such as demanding that no data be shared with Israel,” said the Cable.

“The senators have also accused Turkey of violating US sanctions against Iran, which they said calls into question their reliability as a partner in organizing a missile defense system aimed at Tehran.

15.07.2011
SOURCE: DUNYA.COM