ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will visit Britain next week for talks on a wide range of issues, including Turkey's bid to join the European Union and the situation in Iraq, officials said Wednesday.
Gul will arrive in London late Sunday and meet with his British counterpart Jack Straw on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan said.
EU demands from Ankara to normalize ties with bloc member Cyprus are expected to high on the agenda of the talks.
Britain, the former colonial ruler of Cyprus, will take over the rotating presidency of the EU in July for a period of six months, during which Turkey is set to start membership talks, on October 3.
The EU has conditioned the opening of the talks on the signing of a protocol by Ankara that would extend an already-existing Turkey-EU association agreement to cover 10 new members, including Cyprus, which joined the bloc last May.
Ankara, which refuses to endorse the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government of the island, says it will sign the accord, but maintains that such a move will not signify recognition of the Greek Cypriots.
The two sides are also set to discuss developments in Iraq, Turkey's southern neighbor, and bilateral cooperation, a senior diplomat said.
Gul will make a speech at the London School of Economics later on Monday and visit the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies on Tuesday before heading back home.
03/09/2005 12:12 GMT