ANKARA, Turkey -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says two U.S. representatives are holding discussions with Syrian officials in Damascus. Clinton also says President Barack Obama will visit the country in the next month or so. Clinton met Saturday with leaders of Turkey, an ally seen as key to resolving several U.S. foreign policy problems, including moving the U.S. military out of Iraq, blocking Iran's nuclear ambitions and turning around the war in Afghanistan. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met Saturday with leaders of Turkey, a strategic ally that is key to resolving several U.S. problems, including moving the military out of Iraq, blocking Iran's nuclear ambitions and turning around the war in Afghanistan. Clinton talked with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for nearly two hours at his residence before visiting the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's national founder. There, she recalled being in Ankara during her husband's presidency and said she had returned to help President Barack Obama promote "the work the U.S. and Turkey must do to forge peace, prosperity and progress." Erdogan's office said in a statement that the two discussed bilateral relations, the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan and combatting terrorism. Clinton also planned a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and a meeting with President Abdullah Gul. Turkey has been a supply route for American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and relations have improved after hitting a low in 2003 when Turkey refused to allow U.S. forces use its territory as a staging ground for the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Turkey has said it is ready to serve as an exit route for U.S. troops pulling out of Iraq. The southern Incirlik air base has been used for transferring U.S. troops and equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey, meanwhile, wants the Obama administration to prevent Congress from labeling the killing of Armenians by Turks a century ago as genocide. Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
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