Gül gives Kerry old photograph with ‘three most important men’ in US

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Gül showed Kerry a photograph taken in the same room of the Presidential Palace on Feb. 22, 2008, with current U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Kerry. All three officials were senators at the time. DHA photo

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ended a visit to Turkey on March 1 with a meeting with President Abdullah Gül, during which Washington’s top diplomat was presented with a photo of the “three most important men” in the United States by the Turkish head of state.

Gül congratulated Kerry on his new assignment, adding that Kerry's visit came at a time when many critical developments were taking place in the region.

The Turkish president also showed Kerry a photograph taken in the same room of the Presidential Palace on Feb. 22, 2008, with current U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Kerry. All three officials were senators at the time.

Kerry then asked Gül if he could write a few words on the photograph such as “the most important three
men.” Gül duly wrote on the photograph “the most important three men of the [Barack] Obama administration with me,” signed it and presented it to Kerry.

During the meeting, Gül conveyed his thoughts on bilateral relations, his views on a solution to the Cyprus issue, Turkey’s possible participation in a free trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union, counter-terrorism, Syria, Iraq and the Middle East peace process. Kerry emphasized that Turkey was his country’s closest possible ally in the solution to the problems.