No scheduled Erdoğan-Obama meeting, says Turkish spokesperson
There is no scheduled bilateral meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington D.C. during the Nuclear Security Summit on March 31 and April 1, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said March 28.
“The visit our President [Erdoğan] is making to Washington is not a bilateral visit. It is a multi-national, multi-participants summit,” said Kalın during a press conference in Ankara on March 28, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
“During these summits bilateral meetings are held as far as the program allows. There will be meetings that we have planned, that are demanded of us and that we demanded. Work is continuing for such a meeting with Mr. Obama,” he added.
The White House has made no official statement on whether the two leaders will meet during Erdoğan’s visit to the United States between March 29 and April 2.
The president is traveling to the U.S. where he will attend the Nuclear Security Summit, and the opening ceremony of a mosque and culture center constructed in Maryland with the funding of the Turkish government.
Erdoğan wanted to open the mosque and center with Obama, but sources said Obama was not expected to attend the ceremony.
Erdoğan is expected to address the Brookings Institute and attend a dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council.
