Turkey's Gul to attend NATO foreign minister's meeting in Brussels

ANKARA (AFP) Apr 02, 2003
Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will travel to Brussels on Thursday to attend a meeting between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and fellow NATO foreign ministers, Turkish diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Gul and Powell were meeting here on Wednesday at the start of the latter's one-day visit to the Turkish capital to rebuild ties after a series of rows over the war in Iraq.

Powell is scheduled to leave Turkey later Wednesday for a brief stopover in Belgrade before heading on to Brussels where he will have lunch with NATO and EU foreign ministers ahead of a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, NATO's highest decision-making organisation.

Gul's surprise trip to Brussels has forced the cancellation of his planned visit to the breakaway Turkish-held north of Cyprus where he was supposed to announce a new Turkish initiative to resolve the island's long-standing division.

The Turkish minister is expected to travel to Cyprus on Friday or Saturday.

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