Clinton seeks to renew ties with Turkey

The American President Barack Obama will visit Turkey in a month’s time. This was announced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a press conference in Turkey on Saturday.

It will be the first visit by the President to an Islamic country. The Secretary of State visited Turkey on Saturday to start the repairing of the ties with this NATO-member state. The relationship became frosty due to the fact that in 2003 Turkey refused to open a front for the United States against Iraq on its territory. Clinton paid a visit to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. She said she had come to emphasise the work that needs to be done by the US and Turkey to promote peace, well-being and progress. Diplomats discussed among other things a new Turkish contribution to the international ISAF force in Afghanistan. Just as she did during her recent visit to Islamic Indonesia, Clinton declared that Turkey is proving that democracy and Islam can co-exist. President Obama had earlier reached out to the Islamic world. He promised a ‘new way forward’ following the policy of his predecessor George Bush