Turkey's Erdogan, Trump discussed U.S. withdrawal from Syria in phone call: state media

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Turkey's Erdogan, Trump discussed U.S. withdrawal from Syria in phone call: state media

 

FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during their meeting in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, 14 February 2019. Sergei Chirikov/Pool via REUTERS

 

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call on Thursday to carry out the U.S. military withdrawal from Syria in line with their mutual interests, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said.

 

In December, Trump confounded his own national security team with a surprise decision to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, declaring that Islamic State had been defeated there.

 

Erdogan previously said that uncertainty remained over the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, adding there was talk of the pullout taking place in April or May.

 

During their phone call, Erdogan and Trump agreed that the U.S. withdrawal from Syria should not damage the mutual goals of Ankara and Washington, Anadolu said.

 

Turkey wants to set up a safe zone with logistical support from allies and says it should be cleared of the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara views as a terrorist organisation linked with Kurdish militants on its own soil.

 

Erdogan and Trump also discussed bilateral relations and the latest developments in Syria, Anadolu said, adding that the two agreed to support a political resolution to the Syria conflict.

 

Erdogan reaffirmed Turkey's desire to maintain close ties with the United States in the phone call and the two leaders agreed to improve bilateral economic ties, Anadolu said.

 

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-22

[LomSak27]

As Turkey was aiding ISIS back in the days of Obama for a lucrative deal involving trucked oil. You really do not know what to make of it.
 

Like Putin you get a dictator and they own the mental cream puff midget in the White House. He blusters to be a tough guy, And any two bit dictator that calls him up can play him for the fool. Well he has an extremely limited attention span, can’t read a page in a book. With someone this dumb I guess it is to be expected. What a spud.

[Cryingdick]

Bring the troops home. We can't stay there forever. It's pretty much as simple as that.

[LomSak27]

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

Bring the troops home. We can't stay there forever. It's pretty much as simple as that.

 

Then cut the size of the army in half if they don't want to do their job. It's as simple as that.

[zydeco]

We're staying. No, we're going. Uh, no, we'll stay.  Howabouts we stay just a little bit? Okay, get more out.  No, we'll leave a couple of hundred there. Yep, that's it. No changing. Decision made in stone. Decisive. Great leadership. Then . . . . somebody else walks into the room to talk with Trump, and all the plans get changed again.

[stevenl]

Must have been a short conversation, since that is exactly what Erdogan wanted.

[Mac98]

It's what Erdogan wants if U.S. must go. It won't work. Turkey will have no one to intervene except Russia. This is a Putin trap (to weaken Turkey's ties to the West) and The Donald is happily carrying it out. 

[Galactus]

it is unbelievable that this fascist bigot Erdogan is ruling Trump though.

trump is weaker than you might thought if he is gettign his orders from Erdogan.

Poor state of US presidency, shame for all americans.

but yes, US has no place there, same as Russia or Iran. Turks at least having a 900 kms border with Syria so they might have some concerns but other just get the f out of Syria!

[JemJem]

20 hours ago, Galactus said:

it is unbelievable that this fascist bigot Erdogan is ruling Trump though.

trump is weaker than you might thought if he is gettign his orders from Erdogan.

Poor state of US presidency, shame for all americans.

but yes, US has no place there, same as Russia or Iran. Turks at least having a 900 kms border with Syria so they might have some concerns but other just get the f out of Syria!

Erdogan sadly almost always seems to have something important going for him. As you know, he has been using the refugee/migrant card

against the EU. He has pocketed a lot of money from EU so far and also EU has basically said nothing about the human rights abuses he has committed both in Turkey and in Syria. By the way, it is not hard to guess that a significant amount of the EU money has most probably gone to Erdogan and his cronies.

 

Turkey will face major economic, social, cultural and demographic problems with several millions of refugees and migrants (mainly from Syria but increasingly, many sources say, from Afghanistan) who have gone there since a few years ago.

 

In the meantime, against his local political opponents and to fire up his base, he keeps calling many opposition figures 'traitors' and even 'terrorists'. And, many have already ended up in jail.

 

Turkey is doomed. I don't see Erdogan and the domination of political Islam going away anytime soon.