CHP delegation set to depart for Washington

A senior delegation from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) will depart for the U.S. capital on Sept. 22 in order to hold a series of talks, ahead of an anticipated visit to the U.S. by party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The CHP's two deputy chairs, Faruk Logoglu and Umut Oran, will be holding talks in Washington on Sept. 23 and 24 before proceeding to New York, where they will also engage in talks with several contacts during a Socialist International (SI) meeting. The meetings in Washington will be held with officials from the White House, the State Department and Congress, Logoglu told the Hürriyet Daily News on Sept. 18. They will also be meeting with a number of think tank organizations in order to make the required arrangements for Kılıçdaroğlu to deliver speeches, he added, declining to give more details. The exact date of Kılıçdaroğlu's visit to the United States will apparently be set after the CHP delegation's talks. The SI meeting in New York will coincide with the U.N. General Assembly's 68th Assembly, where scores of heads of state and governments will take to the podium next week. The SI meeting will be held at the "presidium" level, meaning that only party leaders will be able to attend. Kılıçdaroğlu, however, preferred not to attend the meeting as he does not want to be abroad at a time when the country's domestic agenda was full, officials said.