President Obama is on his second full day of his visit to Turkey. He finished his trip with a town hall meeting with students and an appeal to Turkish youth. The President said he understands the frustrations felt in the Muslim world about some of America's actions and that he wants to turn the page. So how are Turks reacting to the new President? Are they ready to turn the page and renew ties with America? To help answer that question, we are joined by journalist Asli Aydintasbas, who wrote an op-ed in yesterday's New York Times, and Jeff McAllister, BBC political commentator.

For more, read Asli Aydintasbas' op-ed piece, Turkey in Full in the New York Times.

Here is Al-Jazeera's report on the protests that greeted President Obama's visit to Turkey:

If Turkey succeeds in its bid to join the European Union, it would become the most populous state in the EU. But European countries are divided over the issue of allowing a predominantly Muslim country gain such a powerful role. Nowhere is the debate over this more heated than in the Netherlands, where an increasing Muslim population has caused a populist backlash and a string of high profile murders in recent years. We talk to the Dutch Minister for European Affairs, Frans Timmermans, who is in the U.S. to promote the economic benefits of tolerance.


This 2008 news report from Russia Today documents the increasing divide over the growth of Islamic communities in The Netherlands.

It is the second full day of President Obama's visit to Turkey, the last stop on an eight-day European tour that included stops at the G-20 summit and the NATO 60th anniversary meeting. He is wrapping up his visit with an appeal to Turkish youth a town hall-style meeting. But arguably the most important thing President Obama did on his trip was his visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul today. The Blue Mosque is of huge symbolic value and religious importance to the Islamic world, having survived for through hundreds of years of upheaval in the region. His visit to Turkey is seen as an attempt to renew a flagging relationship with an important Islamic ally, so what does President Obama's action symbolize? We go to Istanbul for the answer with Turkish journalist, Mithat Bereket, formerly of CNN Turkey who is now on Pusula-TV, a private television station.

As the last stop on his first Presidential tour of Europe, President Obama heads to Turkey. This visit is seen as another step towards engagement of the Muslim world. Turkey was once a strong strategic ally of the U.S., but the relationship has drifted in the last few years. This trip to Ankara is seen as a move to renew the partnership. For more, we turn to Dr. Gulnur Aybet, a specialist on Turkey at the University of Kent in England to discuss the President's visit and his efforts to reach out to Muslims in Turkey and around the world.