Turkish President meets with British PM

The closed-door meeting lasted for about 45 minutes. President Gul is currently in London to receive Chatham House prize. Gul will deliver a speech at the Chatham House on Turkey, Europe and the international system in the first quarter of the 21st century later in the day.

He will also attend a conference on democracy and development in Islam world at the University of Oxford. On Tuesday, Gul will inaugurate Yunus Emre Foundation's Turkish Culture Center and Architect Sinan Exhibition in London.

A Turkish poet and Sufi mystic, Yunus Emre was one of the first known Turkish poets to have composed works in the spoken Turkish of his own age and region rather than in Persian or Arabic. His diction remains very close to the popular speech of his contemporaries in Central and Western Anatolia. His poems, written in the tradition of Anatolian folk poetry, mainly concern divine love as well as human destiny.

Mimar (Architect) Sinan was the chief Ottoman architect and civil engineer for sultans Suleyman I, Selim II, and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures, including Selimiye Mosque in Edirne and Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.

Gul is expected to depart from Britain on Tuesday evening.


/World Bulletin/