Turkey to end military operation after Syrian Kurd withdrawal

ANKARA: Turkey has agreed to completely end military operations in northern Syria after Kurdish fighters withdraw from a safe zone, US Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday. Turkey´s operation “will be halted entirely on completion” of the pullout, Pence told reporters after talks in Ankara.

Turkey on Thursday confirmed suspension of its offensive in Syria until Kurdish militants withdraw from the area, the foreign minister said. “We are suspending the operation, not halting it,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists in Ankara. “We will halt the operation only after (Kurdish militants) completely withdraw from the region.” US President Donald Trump hailed “great news” following talks between his vice president and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a ceasefire in northern Syria. “Great news out of Turkey,” Trump tweeted, shortly before Vice President Mike Pence announced in Ankara that Turkey had agreed to end its military operation once Kurdish fighters withdraw from a safe zone. “Millions of lives will be saved!” Trump wrote. Trump´s chief of staff had earlier said the president may revoke a White House invitation extended to Erdogan, depending on the outcome of the talks in Ankara. “It´s still on the schedule,” Mike Mulvaney told reporters, “but I think that´s one of those wait and see things. “The president´s been very clear about what he wants to see out of President Erdogan,” he added.

US Vice President Mike Pence met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to push for a ceasefire in Syria after Ankara rebuffed international pressure to halt its deadly offensive against Kurdish forces.

The visit came a day after Erdogan vowed to press ahead with Turkey´s operation, which has been facilitated by the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing hundreds of thousands.

Ahead of the key trip, an extraordinary letter from US President Donald Trump emerged in which he warned Erdogan: “Don´t be a fool.” Sent the day Turkey launched its incursion into northeastern Syria, Trump said history risked branding him a “devil”. The Erdogan-Pence meeting lasted about one hour and 20 minutes — longer than expected according to a US official — and they were later joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials.