FM Davutoglu heads to UN meeting on Iraq chaired by US Vice President Biden

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend a UN Security Council meeting tomorrow set to discuss progress in Iraq. US Vice President Joe Biden will chair the meeting, as the US this month holds the rotating presidency of the 15-nation council. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Davutoglu's US counterpart, will not participate in the UN meeting, Turkish diplomatic sources said, but didn't exclude the possibility of a meeting between Davutoglu and Biden on the meeting's sidelines. Turkish diplomats are also reportedly trying to arrange a meeting between Davutoglu and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Davutoglu's visit comes at a time when Washington's two key allies in the Middle East, Turkey and Israel, are trying to normalize relations after Israel's killing of Turkish peace activists on board a Gaza-bound aid convoy in late May. In October 2008 Turkey was elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council, and its two-year term concludes this month. Tomorrow's meeting is expected to focus on ending trade sanctions on Turkey's neighbor Iraq, a response to Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.