NATO chief to make first Turkey visit after coup bid

PanARMENIAN.Net - NATO head Jens Stoltenberg will travel to key ally Turkey this week to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the highest western officials to visit since a failed military coup in July, a statement said Tuesday, September 6, AFP reports.

The alliance gave no further details of Stoltenberg's meeting Thursday and Friday with Erdogan, who has berated the West for what he sees as its lukewarm backing and criticism of his massive crackdown on coup suspects.

Some 20,000 people have been arrested since the July 15 coup attempt and 70,000 civil servants have been fired as Erdogan purges all those he says have links to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim preacher Ankara blames for the attempted putsch.

NATO and Stoltenberg have repeatedly expressed support for the Turkish government in the coup's aftermath, insisting that the U.S.-led alliance means what it says in supporting democracy.

At the same time, NATO has been cautious on the crackdown, calling for Ankara to ensure that human rights norms that all alliance members are supposed to adhere to are not compromised.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey late last month, the most senior western official to do so since the coup, as Washington tried to mend ties badly strained by Ankara's demand that it hand Gulen over for trial.

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini is due to visit Turkey on Thursday and Friday as well, following a trip last week by European Parliament head Martin Schulz who has been notably critical of the crackdown.