Ozel meets us officials

As part of his visit to the US, Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel has visited US Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and other US officials at the Pentagon yesterday. Speaking  to the Hurriyet daily, Ozel said following his meeting with Dempsey that his four-day visit to the US was quite fruitful. "This has been a quite positive visit. I’m very happy about its  outcomes. We have also discussed regional issues and other matters with regard to NATO." In reply to a question how the Syrian issue has been brought to agenda, Ozel said that they  have been closely followed the developments in Syria. For his part, Dempsey said, "I was in Jordan two weeks ago, and today I met with my Turkish counterpart. We tried to establish a  common understanding with regard to where we are and where we would like to be in the future." Ozel concluded his contacts in the US with a one-hour meeting with Secretary of  Defense Leon Panetta, which was also attended by Turkish Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan and Chairman of Information Department Lt. Gen. Yasar Guler. The terrorist PKK, as well  as certain arms sales were discussed during the meeting, after which Guler said, "As we are not decision-maker, we have only discussed the issues. But we have again conveyed our  demands with regard to unmanned air vehicles Reaper and Predators to be used in the fight against PKK."