Obama to visit Turkey in next few weeks

ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) — President Obama plans to visit Turkey in about a month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Saturday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Clinton was holding talks in Ankara with officials “to emphasize the work the United States and Turkey must do together on behalf of peace, prosperity and progress,” she said.

Obama had said he was going to deliver a speech in a Muslim capital within the first hundred days of his presidency. Clinton did not say that Obama would be making such a speech during this visit.

A senior Obama administration official confirmed that Turkey will be the president’s first visit to a Muslim nation since taking office, but did not provide dates for the president’s upcoming visit to Turkey.

This official did say the visit would be “an important opportunity to visit a NATO ally and discuss shared challenges.”

The official added that “it will also provide an opportunity to continue the president’s dialogue with the Muslim world, a dialogue he started immediately and intends to maintain throughout his presidency.”

The State Department on Saturday issued a joint statement from Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan reaffirming the close U.S.-Turkish relationship.

Both countries pledged to pursue an Arab-Israeli peace settlement, peace in the southern Caucasus region, normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations and a settlement of the Cyprus question — a dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots over territory.

They vowed to enhance the fight against terror groups such as al Qaeda and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and work to expand the natural gas and oil infrastructure to help Caspian basin and Iraqi energy producers reach European and world markets.

Turkey is a secular country and predominantly Muslim. It is a NATO member and has been a longtime ally of the United States. It is one of the few Muslim countries to have full diplomatic relations with Israel and has long been the Jewish state’s closest military and economic partner in the region.