NATO Chief to Visit Turkey for Talks on Afghanistan

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen will travel this week to Turkey where he will meet the country's leaders to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, a diplomat said Monday.

He will meet Turkey's President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and will participate in a roundtable on Turkey-NATO relations, the Turkish source said.

The visit Wednesday through Friday will also mark the 60th anniversary of Turkey's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in February 1952.

Turkey has contributed troops to NATO's 130,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Rasmussen's trip also comes amid intense pressure from Western and Arab states on the Syrian regime to stop its deadly repression of anti-government protests.

However, Rasmussen has repeatedly said NATO has no intention of intervening in the Syrian conflict.

Activists say 6,000 people have been killed in Damascus' violent repression of demonstrations that began in March 2011.

Turkey has condemned the Damascus regime and called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.