Turkish President Abdullah Gul
announced Sunday that he will not be able to meet with President Shimon Peres
while in New York for the 65th UN General Assembly. Speaking at a press conference, Gul said that his
busy schedule would prevent him from holding the meeting.
Gul went on to speak of the importance of the General Assembly meeting for
Turkey because it is currently sitting on the UN Security Council and
is slated to chair the council during its membership. Speaking of
Turkey's goals in the UN, he said that Turkey wishes to take up the
issue of militancy in the Security Council and that Turkish Foreign
Minister Davutoglu will be holding more than 50 bilateral meetings
during the summit.
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Responding to reports that the meeting with President Peres had been
canceled, Beit Hanassi put out a statement on Monday saying that "the
meeting was not organized in advance."
The statement added that meetings
with
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had also not been
scheduled during his stay in New York.
The president is set to address the UN General Assembly on Monday. Later
in the week, he is scheduled to speak to a special session of the
Clinton Global Initiative focusing on the Middle East where Gul is also
scheduled to speak.