Prime Minister Yıldırım heads to Malta and Germany

Gizem KARAKIŞ - ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım is scheduled to visit European Union term president Malta and then head to Germany to attend the Munich Security Summit, where he will meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
 
Yıldırım was scheduled to depart late on Feb. 16 for Malta, where he will be hosted by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who took over the term presidency of the EU until July, and be received by President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.
 
Along with bilateral talks, Yıldırım will also attend the Turkey-Malta Business Forum, hosted by the DEIK/Turkey-Malta Business Council in collaboration with the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Entrepreneurship in Valetta.

Among the subjects on the agenda of the visit will be Turkey’s EU membership bid, the refugee crisis and terrorism.

Meeting with Pence

Following his visit to Malta, Yıldırım will go to Germany to attend the Munich Security Summit over the weekend, meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. 

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, NATO Secretary General Jan Stoltenberg, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are also expected to join the summit.

In Munich, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Yıldırım will address Ankara’s stance on international security issues, particularly related to Syria and terrorism. Yıldırım is expected to emphasize the importance of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and to stress that there should be no distinction made between terrorist organizations, amid Turkish frustrations over what it sees as insufficient cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The steps to be taken after the recent Astana Summit on Syria, which took place under the leadership of Turkey and Russia, are also among the agenda items of the conference.

PM to address rally in Germany

Meanwhile, the prime minister is also due to attend a rally in Oberhausen in North Rhine-Westphalia on Feb. 18, where he will herald the government-drafted constitutional amendments to shift Turkey to an executive presidential system, at an event titled “Patriots say Yes.”