New CIA Chief to Pay First Visit to Turkey

CIA director, Mike Pompeo (Photo: AP Photo)

ANKARA (Hurriyet Daily News)””The CIA’s new director, Mike Pompeo, will pay a visit to Turkey on February 9 to discuss regional issues in his first overseas visit under the new U.S. administration.

Pompeo’s visit was decided during a 45-minute telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan late on February 7, according to officials from ErdoÄŸan’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Turkey’s presidential spokesperson, Ä°brahim Kalın, said Turkey was the first leg of a broader regional trip for Pompeo, during which military operations in Syria’s al-Bab and Raqqa will be discussed.

Pompeo’s visit comes a little more than one day after Trump and ErdoÄŸan’s telephone conversation, a first since Trump’s inauguration in January 20.

Trump reiterated support for Turkey “as a strategic partner and NATO ally”