(CNN) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived Thursday in Ankara, Turkey, the first stop on a four-day visit to Turkey and Greece, where he is to meet with leaders to discuss what his office called "the full range of bilateral, regional, and international issues."
He was greeted at Ankara's airport by high-level Turkish officials and U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Frank Ricciardone, according to the pool reporters.
On Friday, Biden is to eat breakfast with Cemil Cicek, speaker of Turkey's parliament, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Ataturk Mausoleum. He is to meet late in the morning with President Abdullah Gul at the presidential compound.
After meeting with U.S. Embassy staff and their families, he is to travel Friday afternoon to Istanbul to deliver a speech on the global economy.
His flew to Turkey from Iraq, where he paid tribute Thursday to the sacrifices of U.S. and Iraqi troops at a ceremony for the service members.
The trip came amid an increasingly rapid U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country. Virtually all U.S. troops are scheduled to be withdrawn by the end of the year.
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