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Turkey PM tries to reset relations with Washington

Turkey Prime Minister Binali Yildirim met with Vice President Mike Pence on Nov. 9 on a visit to Washington meant to try to ease strained US-Turkish ties, but the obstacles to improved relations are difficult to overcome.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim delivers a speech during the AK Party's group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in Ankara on October 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN        (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim met with Vice President Mike Pence at the White House for over an hour today to try to clear the air over a series of issues that have quickly strained relations between Ankara and the Donald Trump administration. Those irritants include: Turkey’s request for the extradition of Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose movement Turkey considers behind the coup attempt of July 15, 2016; the United States working in Syria with predominantly Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK); the jailing of dozens of journalists and an American pastor in Turkey; and most recently, visa restrictions between the two countries.

The White House said Pence and Yildirim hoped to “usher in a new chapter” in US-Turkish relations.

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