Turkish and U.S. delegations on Thursday evening held a meeting in Ankara co-chaired by President Recep Erdoğan and U.S. Vice President Mike P
Turkish and U.S. delegations on Thursday evening held a meeting in Ankara co-chaired by President Recep Erdoğan and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
The closed-door meeting lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The Turkish delegation included Vice President Fuat Oktay, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler.
The American delegation, which is expected to depart from Ankara on Thursday night, consisted of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien, U.S. Special Representative in Syria James Jeffrey and U.S. Ambassador to Ankara David Satterfield.
U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier invited Erdoğan to the White House on Nov. 13. The President has said he will only decide on visiting Washington after the U.S. delegation talks.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK’s Syrian offshoot the People’s Protection Units (YPG), on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m.
The operation, conducted in line with the country’s right to self-defense borne out of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, aims to establish a terror-free safe zone for Syrians return in the area east of the Euphrates River controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by YPG terrorists.
The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.