Erdoğan meets with defense minister Işık

ANKARA

AA photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting with Defense Minister Fikri Işık at the Beylerbeyi Palace in Istanbul on Feb. 27. 

“Defense Minister Fikri Işık will be in the Beylerbeyi Palace while our president is receiving a delegation from Uzbekistan,” read a statement released by the ministry. 

The president also met with Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar later in the day.

President Erdoğan holds scheduled meetings with statesmen and other officials on Thursdays. 

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım held an announced meeting with Gen. Akar. Yıldırım and Akar met for around one hour at the Prime Ministry in the capital Ankara and no statements were made to the media about the content of the encounter. 

Days after taking control in al-Bab

The meeting came three days after the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) captured full control of al-Bab in northern Syria with the participation of Free Syrian Army (FSA) troops and ahead of Yıldırım’s meeting with Massoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (IKRG), one day after the latter met with Erdoğan. 

Last week, Akar visited the Turkish military units in Kilis and Gaziantep, the two southeastern Turkish provinces located near Turkey’s border with Syria.