Adm. Michael Mullen arriving in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled to arrive in Ankara Friday for talks with Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Isik Kosaner, Today’s Zaman reported.

As it comes only days after U.S. President Barack Obama announced the end of combat in Iraq, some news reports have suggested that the visit is aimed at requesting that Turkey allow the U.S. to use its territory for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Obama had previously ordered the end of combat missions by Aug. 31 in a step toward the full withdrawal of American forces by the end of next year that was mandated in a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement. In June, when Gen. David Petraeus, who previously commanded U.S. forces in Iraq and is now the top commander in Afghanistan, visited Turkey for talks with officials, then-U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey had denied that the visit was linked to the U.S. withdrawal. At the time, Jeffrey said there was no final plan on the overall U.S. withdrawal from Iraq; therefore, the issue was not on the agenda of Petraeus’ talks.