WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Monday urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “stop the invasion” of Syria, Vice President Mike Pence said.
Trump pressed the Turkish leader in a telephone call to “stop the invasion, to enact an immediate ceasefire and to begin negotiations with Kurdish forces in Syria,” Pence told reporters, adding that he would be traveling urgently to Turkey at the president’s request.
“He’s directed me to lead a delegation. I will be leaving as quickly as possible to travel into the region to pursue a ceasefire and negotiated settlement,” Pence said.
Pence said the president is “very concerned about instability in the region” and denied that Trump gave Turkey the green light to launch the invasion when he announced a troop pullout.
Pence said the US is “simply not going to tolerate Turkey’s invasion of Syria any longer.”
The United States slapped sanctions on Turkey on Monday as it demanded an end to its deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters, accusing its NATO partner of putting civilians at risk and allowing the release of Islamic State extremists. READ MORE
