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ANKARA: Gul Takes Energy Agenda To Washington

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  • ANKARA: Gul Takes Energy Agenda To Washington

    GUL TAKES ENERGY AGENDA TO WASHINGTON

    Turkish Daily News, Turkey
    Jan 7 2008

    >From Turkey's perspective the focus of talks in the US will be
    Turkish-American cooperation and 'robust partnership in a challenging
    environment' given that presidential visits aim at a common perspective
    toward the future rather than solving current problems, according to
    Turkish diplomatic sources

    Abdullah Gul yesterday embarked on his first trip to the United States
    since becoming president in August and a major issue that will figure
    in his Washington talks will be energy.

    Gul's visit to the United States comes after talks in energy-rich
    Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Turkey has taken a closer
    step toward becoming an East-West energy hub by undertaking such
    major projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the
    Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline that has now extended
    to Greece and will later be interconnected to Italy.Despite this,
    Turkey is not yet a transport corridor of energy in a real sense.

    "It is always said Turkey is an energy terminal but if we don't
    take care, we can be bypassed," Gul warned last week. "Therefore,
    we should keep these (energy) issues alive and of course we need the
    support of big countries to realize giant energy projects."

    His remarks clearly showed the energy issue will be one of the
    most significant issues to appear on the agenda of talks with
    U.S. officials. Gul, accompanied by Energy Minister Hilmi Guler,
    is expected to seek Washington's support for Turkey to take a second
    step on the path to becoming a full-fledged energy corridor.

    Professor Ahmet Davutoðlu, chief foreign policy advisor to the
    Turkish president, told CNN-Turk last week that Turkey will be at the
    cross-roads of the East-West and North-South energy corridors in the
    upcoming period.

    Undoubtedly, energy will not be the only topic of the high-level
    meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush set for Tuesday. Turkey
    and the United States will have the opportunity to discuss a series of
    issues including Iraq, the Middle East, terrorism, a pending Armenian
    genocide bill, Iran's disputed nuclear program, the latest developments
    in Pakistan and the Caucasus.

    Despite the fact that Gul's visit comes shortly after Prime Minister
    Recep Tayyip Erdoðan's meeting with Bush in November when a significant
    step was taken in the fight against terrorism with Washington starting
    to supply Ankara with real-time intelligence to combat outlawed
    Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists based in northern Iraq, Gul's
    visit marks the first presidential visit since 1996 when the ninth
    President Suleyman Demirel paid a visit to the United States. Before
    that, late President Turgut Ozal visited Washington in 1992.

    Bush will welcome Gul at the White House shortly before leaving for
    the Middle East, considered a chance for highest-level consultations as
    Bush is seeking to revitalize peace talks between Israel and Palestine,
    according to Turkish diplomats.

    In Washington, Gul will also meet Vice President Dick Cheney,
    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert
    Gates. The president will attend a meeting of the Turkish-American
    Business Council and will meet leaders of the business world as well
    as media representatives. In New York, Gul will hold talks with U.N.

    Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a dinner. He will lecture at the
    American Foreign Policy Council about Turkish-U.S. relations and meet
    leaders of Jewish organizations and Meskhetian Turks.

    >From Turkey's perspective the focus of the meetings in the United
    States will be Turkish-American cooperation and a "robust partnership
    in a challenging environment" given that presidential visits aim at
    a common perspective toward the future rather than solving current
    problems, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

    The objective is to create new momentum and a spirit of cooperation
    and spread bilateral ties to all areas, added the same sources and
    stressed that the two sides have the political will to do so and that
    Bush's invitation to Gul is a clear indicator in that respect.

    --Boundary_(ID_LeEpVTDK0Wgbd/VjkB9kpg)--
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