ANKARA - U.S. Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, the State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism, will travel to Ankara, Turkey during the week of June 10th. 

 

The U.S. Foreign Department office said in a statement that Sales will engage in discussions with his Turkish counterparts on the "repatriation and prosecution of foreign ISIS fighters, border security and curtailing terrorist travel, countering the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), combating terrorist finance, and global efforts to defeat al-Qa’ida and ISIS."

 

The visit comes days after Pentagon officials terminated training programs for Turkish pilots aboard the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

 

Defense Department officials made the move in protest of Ankara’s plans to buy the Russian S-400 missile system, which the U.S. and other European allies fear could compromise NATO’s defenses.