ANKARA: New CIA chief Mike Pompeo arrived in Ankara on Thursday for talks with Turkish officials, on his first foreign visit since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

His visit came two days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to Trump for the first time in his White House term, agreeing to work together in the fight against the IS in Syria.

Pompeo is to discuss the Syria conflict, in particular Turkey’s operation against IS in the town of Al-Bab and a possible plan to capture the group’s de-facto capital Raqa, NTV said.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday that discussions were under way with the US over efforts to retake Raqa from the IS, with Trump giving a “positive” response to Turkish plans.

On the same day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu raised the prospect of Turkish special forces’ involvement in any Raqa operation after recapturing Al-Bab.

According to Hurriyet daily’s well-connected columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, when Erdogan raised the issue of the fight against the IS and the Syrian Kurdish militia, Trump said: “I am sending the CIA chief, you can speak with him in detail.”

Pompeo is also likely to discuss the status of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen whom Ankara blames for July’s failed coup against Erdogan. Gulen denies the charges.

Trump to attend Nato summit

Nato will host a summit of leaders including US President Donald Trump in May at its new Brussels headquarters, even though it will not be ready by then, officials and sources said on Thursday.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter late on Wednesday that the meeting of 28 leaders would take place on May 25 and that the building would be opened then.

“Very pleased to welcome my colleagues for the next Nato summit in Brussels on 25th May and opening of new headquarters,” Michel tweeted.

But Nato would not confirm the date or the venue, saying only that Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Trump had agreed by phone on Sunday that the summit would be in late May.

Trump has previously criticised Nato, calling it “obsolete” in an interview earlier this year and pressing the rest of the 28-nation group to commit more money to it.

Letter of thanks to China’s Xi

President Trump has sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said, weeks after receiving a letter of congratulations from the leader of the Asian giant.

Beijing has been on tenterhooks waiting for a contact from the billionaire president, who seems set to take a hard line against the Asian giant on a wide range of issues from trade to security. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly attacked Beijing for “stealing” American jobs and has threatened to slap it with massive tariffs.

In his missive, Trump said he looked forward to developing “a constructive relationship that benefits both the United States and China,” spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2017