CIA chief to visit Turkey: officials

CIA Director Mike Pompeo will visit Turkey on Thursday in his first overseas visit to discuss security issues, including Turkey’s fight against a movement led by a US-based cleric accused of orchestrating a failed military coup, Turkish officials said, in a sign of improving relations between the allies.

Pompeo’s visit was decided during a 45-minute telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Tuesday, according to officials from Erdogan’s office. They briefed a group of journalists Wednesday on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

The officials said Pompeo would also discuss the issue of US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, who the Turkish government considers to be terrorists because of their affiliation with outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

Turkey wants the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, extradited from the US It is also demanding that Washington stop backing the Syrian Kurdish groups.

Ties between Turkey and the US, which are NATO allies, were troubled under the Obama administration. Turkey expressed frustrations over what it perceives as US reluctance to extradite Gulen, and the support provided to the Syrian Kurdish fighters. The Obama administration regarded the fighters as the most effective group in the war against the Islamic State group in Syria.