World Leaders Prepare Agenda for U.N. General Assembly / TURKEY TRIES CRACKDOWN ON PKK

World leaders are setting out their agendas for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York next week. President Barack Obama will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss the situation in Syria, though U.S. diplomats said Obama would not negotiate the text of a Russian U.N. Security Council proposal that called on countries participating in counterterrorism missions to coordinate with the governments of the countries in which they are operating — a reference to the Assad regime. Regime forces have begun using the Russian jets deployed to an airbase near Latakia as part of a recent buildup of Russian forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Other nations are positioning themselves for the General Assembly meeting as well. Turkey is expected to make a case in defense of its crackdown on the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Saudi Arabia is trying to avoid condemnation for human rights abuses committed in its intervention in Yemen as it faces a new challenge in the U.N. Human Rights Council introduced by the Netherlands. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make the Syrian refugee crisis a key component of her remarks and yesterday called on the United States and Russia to cooperate on addressing the challenge.