PRESIDENT GUL VISITS SOUTH KOREA
President Abdullah Gul, accompanied by six veterans of the Korean War, which Turkey fought in as part of a UN resolution, yesterday left for South Korea as an official guest of his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak. Before leaving, Gul described the busy agenda of his visit, set to cover political, economic and investment relations between the two countries, adding that his visit would be the first at the presidential level since 1982. /Turkiye/
AT G-20 SUMMIT STARTING ON FRIDAY, PM ERDOGAN SET TO TALK WITH OBAMA
While attending the G-20 summit in Toronto starting this Friday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the summit. During the meeting, Erdogan will ask Obama to deal with the Gaza issue under international law, and push for an end to the blockade on Gaza as well as a transparent probe of last month's Israeli attack on a Gaza aid flotilla which left nine Turks dead. Erdogan and Obama are also expected to discuss Iran. /Cumhuriyet/
PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SAHIN VISITING IRAN
During his current visit to Iran at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani, Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin is expected to meet with Iran's supreme leader Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other officials. Sahin and his delegation will also pay a visit to Isfahan, Iran's third-largest city. /Turkiye/
ANKARA'S CHIEF EU NEGOTIATOR BAGIS: "NEW CHAPTER IN TALKS WILL OPEN ON JUNE 30"
Dispelling concerns that Spain's six-month European Union presidency could end without any new chapters beginning in Turkey's EU accession negotiations, Ankara's Chief EU Talks Negotiator Egemen Bagis yesterday said that a new chapter would open on June 30, the last day of Spain's presidency. President Abdullah Gul announced at an awards ceremony in Istanbul over the weekend that he had signed the recently passed Food Safety Law, which the EU required to open the chapter on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy. "We're catching up with EU standards on agriculture and food safety," Bagis said of the new chapter opening. /Today's Zaman/