Turkish PM Erdoğan’s Gaza visit to take place after Obama meeting

Metehan DEMİR BISHKEK-Hürriyet

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his Kyrgyzstan's counterpart Zhantoro Satybaldiyev (R) review Kyrgyz honour guards in the airport Manas 30 km outside the Kyrgyzstan?s capital Bishkek, on April 9, 2013, during an official welcome ceremony for Erdogan. Turkish Prime Minister is on a visit to Kyrgyzstan. AFP PHOTO / ABLAY SARALAYEV

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will probably visit Gaza after his trip to Washington to meet U.S. President Barack Obama on May 16. Erdoğan spoke to the journalist flying with him to Kyrgyzstan late April 9.

“It will probably take place after my visit to America,” he said in response to questions about his intention to visit Gaza.

Erdoğan’s statement came a few days after he met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Istanbul. Kerry advised the Turkish side to reconsider the timing of the prime minister’s planned visit to Gaza.

Erdoğan earlier said he planned to go to the enclave in April, in his remarks following the Israeli apology to Turkey over the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010.

In the meantime, Erdoğan also announced that Kerry will pay another visit to Turkey in two weeks, this time to attend an international meeting on Syria. The meeting will bring together 11 countries which established the core group of the Friends of the Syrian People in a bid to boost the international community’s efforts to topple the Bashar al-Assad regime. Kerry already visited Turkey twice in less than two months since his appointment as the secretary of state.