New York

Tillerson to Meet With Turkish Leaders on Possible Joint ISIS Fight

Turkey may also take up the issue of the arrest in New York of a senior executive of Turkish state-owned bank Halkban

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is meeting Turkish leaders in Ankara for talks on the fight against the ISIS in Syria and Turkish requests for the extradition of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused of staging a failed coup attempt last year.

Tillerson is scheduled to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday.

Turkey is pressing the United States to mount a joint fight to retake the ISIS Syrian stronghold of Raqqa and wants U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters to be excluded from the operations.

Cavusoglu said Turkey would also take up the issue of the arrest in New York of a senior executive of Turkish state-owned bank Halkbank. The executive is accused of helping Iran violate U.S. sanctions against the country.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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