Turkish FM to attend Iraq meeting in New York

ANKARA

Secretary of State John Kerry (L) holds a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu before a meeting in Ankara on Sept. 12, 2014. AFP Photo

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will participate in a special meeting on Iraq in New York led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The meeting is the follow-up of two-week long international efforts to shape the political, military and humanitarian response to the growing threat posed by terror organizations in Iraq and Syria, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Sept. 18. 

The New York meeting will follow the Paris meeting of more than 30 countries that agreed to stand against militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and to give support to the new Iraqi government.

The U.S. State Department said Monday that Kerry would convene the council on Friday to show international support for the new Iraqi government and encourage it to be inclusive while supporting its efforts to combat ISIL. Kerry will chair the meeting two days after testifying before Congress on the Obama administration’s strategy for confronting the extremists, having returned from the Middle East and Europe where he was building an anti-ISIL coalition.

The U.S. holds the Security Council presidency for September, and next week President Barack Obama will chair a panel meeting on foreign fighters in the conflict.