PM Yıldırım meets with US Senator Corker

PRIME Minister Binali Yıldırım met with senior Republican Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee in Washington yesterday.

The meeting lasted for over an hour and was held at the hotel where Yıldırım is staying while in the U.S.

Yıldırım and Corker, who also serves as the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, were accompanied by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Serdar Kılıç, Prime Ministry adviser on foreign affairs Kerim Uras and adviser Uhsan Durdu.

After the meeting, Corker told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he was pleased to see the prime minister and that the meeting was constructive.

“We talked about a large range of issues, including some specific ones, between the two countries. There are a lot of issues we have to overcome,” Corker said, adding that time is needed to solve these problems.

Corker also praised Turkey’s engagement regarding Syrian refugees, saying that a lot more is to done regarding the issue as NATO partners.

Yıldırım arrived on Tuesday in the U.S. where he will be until Nov. 11. He will be holding bilateral meetings to find a solution to a number of current issues and increase the cooperation between the two countries. In his first visit to the country as prime minister, Yıldırım will hold talks with Vice President Mike Pence to discuss topics like regional developments, the refugee issue, the recent visa crisis and the fight against terrorism, with particular focus on the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Daesh and the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Yıldırım will also meet with opinion leaders and representatives of the Muslim and Jewish communities in New York and Washington.

JUSTICE MINISTER GÜL CALLED U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS

Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül held a phone call with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Tuesday.

In the phone call, the two officials discussed “mutual legal assistance in criminal matters,” sources said.

Sources also said the phone call was made on Sessions’s request.

The U.S. and Turkey have yet to re- solve the Fetullah Gülen issue, as Washington has not responded to Ankara’s demands to extradite the U.S.-based leader of FETÖ, which was responsible for the last year’s coup attempt on July 15.

FETÖ is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltration of the country’s institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

Ankara officially submitted evidence to the U.S. in October 2016 regarding Gülen’s network that formed a quasi-state within the Turkish state and attempted to topple the government with the ultimate intent of taking over the state through a vicious coup.

Despite Ankara’s efforts, the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama took no action against the U.S.based terrorist leader. Under normal procedures, Gülen should have already been arrested since Turkish authorities issued an official request for his extradition on Sept. 13 under the 1979 extradition treaty between Turkey and the U.S.

U.S. STATE DEPT: POSITIVE STEPS TAKEN IN VISA SPAT

Both Turkey and the U.S. have taken positive steps toward resolving the visa crisis, and a limited number of visa appointments for Turkish citizens are being scheduled in order of importance, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a press conference Tuesday.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said on Oct. 8 that all nonimmigrant visa services at its diplomatic missions in Turkey were suspended after the arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish employee of the U.S. Consulate, on charges of espionage and links to FETÖ.

Hours after the U.S. decision, Turkey said it was also halting visa applications from the U.S. The move, announced online by the Turkish Embassy in Washington, applies to visas in passports, electronic visas and visas at the borders.

Turkish authorities issued an arrest warrant on Oct. 9 for another staff member working for the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, whose wife and son were then interrogated by police.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has said that the suspect, identified by his initials, N.M.C., and who does not hold diplomatic immunity, was called in for testimony.