Turkey and America's top military commanders met on Wednesday in what a spokesman from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called a sign of the two nations' deeply rooted strategic ties.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Cdr. Scott McIlnay said Chief of General Staff Necdet Özel met with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Wednesday and plans to see US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Thursday. The talks are expected to cover the two nations' overlapping strategic interests, which include the Syria crisis and Iran's nuclear ambitions.
McIlnay also said Özel is scheduled to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery as well as a number of bases in Virginia and Florida.
Özel's visit will also include a briefing on the progress of America's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Ankara has already signed a contract for the delivery of two of the US-produced fighters by 2015, and currently plans to buy 100 of the planes for a total of $16 billion.
