Busy Diplomacy Traffic In January

ANKARA - Ankara will have a busy diplomacy traffic in the first month of the new year.
British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon and Chief of General Staff Sir Michael Boyce will be the first guests of Ankara in January.
The British delegation which will come to Ankara this evening as the guest of National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul will meet with Gonul, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal.
Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani is also expected to be in Ankara on Wednesday. Barzani, who will hold contacts on Thursday and Friday, had postponed his visit to Ankara twice due to health reasons and Prime Minister Abdullah Gul's tour to the Middle East.
Another person that Ankara will host this week is United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro De Soto.
De Soto, who had earlier announced to go to Cyprus on Monday but changed his program, will hold contacts in Athens and Ankara before going to the island.
De Soto is expected to come to Ankara on January 10 and exchange views about latest developments related with Cyprus issue.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara will hold contacts in Ankara between January 13 and 15. Shara's visit is important for not only improvement of bilateral relations but because it will take place in a period when a possible operation on Iraq is on the agenda.
Work continues on setting schedule of European Union (EU) Commissioner for enlargement Guenter Verheugen's visit to Ankara. Ankara stated that a response had not been given yet to the proposal that Verheugen could visit Turkey on January 23 and 24.
Another guest of Ankara this month is U.S. Chief of General Staff Richard Myers. Myers is expected to hold contacts in Ankara between January 24 and 25. Iraq is the main item of Myers' visit to Ankara which will be paid as a part of his tour to the region covering eight countries.
Turkey will also increase its contacts related with EU process in January.
Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis will go to Brussels on January 22 to attend European Convention while Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Akin Alptuna will hold contacts in Athens the same day for EU Troika meeting.
Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini are expected to come to Ankara within the framework of the EU Troika meeting which will be held in Ankara on January 31 and be attended by foreign ministers.