President Erdoğan due to hold his first security council meeting

ANKARA

President Erdoğan watches a military parade in Istanbul, Oct. 29. AA Photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will chair his first National Security Council (MGK) meeting on Oct. 30 since becoming president in August.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will also participate in the gathering for the first time since being assigned to their posts.

The gathering of Turkey’s top civilian and military officials comes up after Peshmerga forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants crossed through Turkish territory heading to the Syrian town Kobane to join the ranks of Syrian Kurds fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Turkey’s contribution to U.S.-led coalition forces against ISIL, as well as soldiers defending the 700-year-old tomb of Suleyman Shah, a Turkish enclave in northern Syria, are expected to be among the topics of the MGK meeting.

The embattled Kurdish peace process, the recent protests in Turkey for solidarity with Kobane that claimed 40 lives, and recent clashes with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), are other issues expected to be on the agenda.