Jordan's King Abdallah II in Washington to Discuss 'Regional Tensions'

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)
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Jordan's King Abdallah II in Washington to Discuss 'Regional Tensions'

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)

Jordan's King Abdullah II kicked off his visit to the US on Tuesday and is set to hold talks with President Joe Biden on Thursday at the White House, according to the Jordanian embassy in Washington.

The Jordanian monarch held a series of meetings with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress during his visit, a part of an international tour that included Qatar and Canada.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy hosted King Abdullah II for a bipartisan leadership meeting and discussed issues of mutual concern.

It was McCarthy's first foreign meeting as the new speaker of the House with a foreign official since he took office after the Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives.

King Abdullah also met the leaders of the specialized committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The King held several closed meetings and addressed the recent escalation between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the strategic relations between Jordan and the US, and other issues of common interest.

A source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Jordanian monarch would also meet during his visit Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken after his return from his regional tour following the escalating tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

King Abdullah visited the United States in May, and in July, he met Biden during a visit to Saudi Arabia. The two sides "reaffirmed the enduring strength of the strategic friendship between the two countries."

Ahead of his arrival in Washington, the Jordanian monarch visited Canada and met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ontario, where the two sides discussed "global security."

In a joint statement, they expressed "deep concern about the deteriorating situation in the West Bank and Gaza."

They stressed the need to "stop all unilateral and provocative measures that undermine the two-state solution, increase tension, and lead to violence."

They also encouraged efforts to relaunch peace negotiations to achieve the two-state solution to ensure an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state.

Last week, King Abdullah received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a surprise visit to Jordan and stressed that Israel should respect the "historical and legal status quo in the Holy Aqsa mosque and not violate it," the royal court said.



Kurdish PKK Militants to Hand over First Weapons in Ceremony in Iraq

PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)
PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)
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Kurdish PKK Militants to Hand over First Weapons in Ceremony in Iraq

PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)
PKK militants in northern Iraq (Reuters)

Dozens of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants will hand over their weapons in a ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday, marking a symbolic but significant first step toward ending a decades-long insurgency with Türkiye.

The PKK, locked in conflict with the Turkish state and outlawed since 1984, decided in May to disband, disarm and end its armed struggle after a public call to do so from its long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, Reuters said.

After a series of failed peace efforts, the new initiative could pave the way for Ankara to end an insurgency that has killed over 40,000 people, burdened the economy and wrought deep social and political divisions in Türkiye and the wider region.

Around 40 PKK militants and one commander were expected to hand over their weapons at the ceremony in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, people familiar with the plan said. The PKK is based in northern Iraq after being pushed well beyond Türkiye’s frontier in recent years.

The arms are to be destroyed later in another ceremony attended by Turkish and Iraqi intelligence figures, officials of Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, and senior members of Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM party - which also played a key role in facilitating the PKK's disarmament decision.

The PKK, DEM and Ocalan have all called on Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's government to address Kurdish political demands. In a rare online video published on Wednesday, Ocalan also urged Türkiye's parliament to set up a commission to oversee disarmament and manage the broader peace process.

Ankara has taken steps toward forming the commission, while the DEM and Ocalan have said that legal assurances and certain mechanisms were needed to smooth the PKK's transition into democratic politics.

Erdogan has said his government would not allow any attempts to sabotage the disarmament process, adding he would give people "historic good news".

Omer Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan's AK Party, said the disarmament process should not be allowed to drag on longer than a few months to avoid it becoming subject to provocations.