Obama not to meet with Turkish PM in Washington

U.S. President Barack Obama will not hold a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his Washington visit, the Cihan news agency reported.

The Turkish PM will visit the United States April 12-13 to attend a nuclear safety summit under Obama's patronage.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will meet with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who will also attend the summit, but no meeting has been scheduled with the Turkish PM.

He said that the summit, which will take place next week, will be attended by 47 states, including Turkey and Armenia. In addition to Sargsyan, Obama will hold bilateral meetings with China's leader, Chancellor of Germany, Kazakh President, the Jordanian king and others.

However, referring to a separate meeting with Erdogan and the tripartite meeting Erdogan, Sagsyan and Obama, Gibbs said that "meetings are not scheduled".

Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will also participate in the summit, the Pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi reported with reference to the diplomatic sources.

Erdogan announced about his decision to participate in the summit last Friday.

On Tuesday, Turkey's Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan returned to Washington in the run up to Erdogan's visit. Tan was withdrawn the next day after the adoption of the resolution on the so-called "Armenian genocide".


/Trend/