Turkish government to meet at urgent security summit

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . AFP photo

Top Turkish civilian and military officials are set to meet today at a security summit to discuss a halt to outlawed Kurdish militants’ withdrawal from Turkey as part of an ongoing resolution process and surprise diplomatic moves to avert a military strike against Syria. 

The meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will begin at 2:30 p.m. local time with the participation of Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz and the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), Hakan Fidan. 

Two issues expected to dominate the meeting are the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) Sept. 9 statement that it was stopping its pullout of militants from Turkey into northern Iraq and the recent development regarding a potential U.S. military operation against Syria.