Turkey's Erdogan discusses Russia-Ukraine war, Syria in first official call with Trump
In their first official call since Trump's return to office, the pair discussed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation in Syria and lifting US sanctions on Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held his first phone call with US President Donald Trump on Sunday, touching on a range of issues including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a readout from Turkey’s Presidential Communications Directorate.
Erdogan offered support for Trump’s effort to end the three-year-long war and called for closer coordination between Ankara and Washington, the directorate noted.
Erdogan also raised the topic of Syria, where some 2,000 US forces are partnered with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to combat the Islamic State, emphasizing the need to restore stability to the war-ravaged country and lift sanctions. US sanctions remain a big obstacle to desperately needed financial assistance that regional nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar are eager to provide to Syria’s new Islamist government, but are loath to disburse for fear of blowback from the international financial system.
Interestingly, Ankara’s readout made no mention of Turkey’s long-running demand that the United States end its partnership with the SDF on the grounds that it is linked to another Kurdish group that is fighting Turkey. This omission may be linked to Turkey’s ongoing efforts to strike a deal with that group — the Kurdistan Workers Party — to end its more than 40-year-long armed insurgency against the Turkish state.
