Erdoğan to explain no-fly-zone plan at Nuclear Security Summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in Washington, DC at the end of March, where he will give a speech on his plan to establish a no-fly zone in northern Syria.

According to the Turkish President, the Syrian crisis, particularly the influx of thousands of civilians into Turkey, and the threat from the Syrian People's Protection Units (YPG) terror group will be on the main agenda of his tour.

He will try again to convince world leaders of the viability of his plan to establish a no-fly zone in northern Syria along the Turkish border, to keep the refugees inside Syria under international protection.

For several months, Turkey, host to the largest number of Syrian refugees, has repeatedly insisted on a safe zone inside Syria stretching down from Azaz and Jarablus in the north, which could house some of the 2.7 million Syrian refugees currently staying in Turkey.

The idea has met with only a lukewarm response from world powers, but there have been indications from Ankara in the last few days that the West is coming closer to its point of view.

Some European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, expressed their positive view on a no-fly zone plan during Turkey-EU refugee talks.

Ankara is holding talks with EU leaders to reach an agreement for dealing with the refugee crisis, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people land on Europe's shores this year, and as many as one million last year.

The 2016 Nuclear Security Summit will be the fourth hosted by President Obama; the first was held in 2010.

During his visit, Erdoğan is also expected to have bilateral meetings with world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, on the sidelines of the 50-nation summit.

After the summit, President Erdoğan along with US President Obama will open the largest mosque in the United States, built by a Turkish religious foundation in Maryland.