Turkish PM Binali Yildirim to visit US amid rocky relations

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will on Tuesday start a four-day trip to the United States, officials said, with ties between the two NATO allies enduring a rocky phase. 

"It has been confirmed that the prime minister's visit to the United States will take place from November 7 to 11," Turkish government sources said on Thursday.

Relations are strained over last year's failed coup in Turkey - which Ankara blames on supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen - and different views on Syria's civil war.

Gulen, a US-based Turkish Muslim preacher, and his followers are accused by Turkish authorities of being behind last July’s coup attempt, which left more than 240 people dead.

Pro-government Turkish media have often insinuated US involvement in last July’s coup, although authorities have largely refrained from making such accusations.

On 7 March, a translator at the US consulate in Adana was arrested on charges of “membership in a terrorist organisation”.

Turkey has also arrested a US citizen and Presbyterian pastor, Andrew Brunson, last October for alleged membership in the Gulenist network.

Tensions also surged last month over the arrest of a Turkish employee at the US consulate in Istanbul who was then charged with espionage and seeking to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

In response, the US ambassador on 8 October announced the suspension of most visa services in Turkey. Ankara responded with similar measures.

In addition, six Turkish banks face billions of dollars of fines from US authorities over alleged violations of sanctions with Iran, according to a Haberturk newspaper report in late October, citing senior banking sources.

US prosecutors in September charged a former Turkish economy minister and the ex-head of a state-owned bank with conspiring to violate Iran sanctions by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the US financial system on Tehran's behalf.

President Erdogan has dismissed the charges as politically motivated and tantamount to an attack on the Turkish Republic.

In June, a brawl erupted in Washington, DC between Erdogan’s security detail and protesters during a talk at the Brookings Institution.

Footage of the brawl showed Erdogan supporters and security personnel attacking and kicking protesters. One video showed the Turkish president, surrounded by bodyguards, watching the scene by his car as the chaos unfolded.

The US House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning Turkey for the brawl.