Anatolia didn’t elaborate on the purpose of Mullen’s visit. Yet, as it comes only days after US President Barack Obama announced the end of combat in Iraq, some news reports have suggested that the visit is aimed at requesting that Turkey allow the US to use its territory for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
Obama had previously ordered the end of combat missions by Aug. 31 in a step toward the full withdrawal of American forces by the end of next year that was mandated in a US-Iraqi security agreement. In June, when Gen. David Petraeus, who previously commanded US forces in Iraq and is now the top commander in Afghanistan, visited Turkey for talks with officials, then-US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey had denied that the visit was linked to the US withdrawal. At the time, Jeffrey said there was no final plan on the overall US withdrawal from Iraq; therefore, the issue was not on the agenda of Petraeus’ talks.
