PM surprised with early Obama visit

Agence France Presse

Erdoğan said late Wednesday he had invited Obama to attend a meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative in Istanbul on April 7 and expressed surprise that the U.S. president not only accepted the invitation but decided also to pay an official visit to Ankara the day before.

"I didn't expect (an official visit) that soon... Combining the two occasions is very meaningful for us," Erdogan said in an interview with TGRT television.

Predominantly Muslim, secular Turkey is a NATO member and a close ally of the United States in a troubled region.

The UN-backed Alliance of Civilizations initiative was lunched in 2005 in a bid to help overcome prejudices and misunderstandings between different cultures and religions. It is co-chaired by Turkey and Spain.