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Turkey says Trump told Erdogan won't give Syria Kurds more arms
Trump delivered the message during what the Turkish presidency called a "productive" phone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday "Mr Trump said he gave a clear order and that after this, weapons would not be supplied to the YPG, essentially he said this nonsense should have been ended earlier," Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference in Ankara. The YPG is the Peoples' Protection Units Kurdish militia in Syria, which the US has seen as the most effective fighting force on the ground against IS. "Naturally, we welcomed these statements," said Cavusoglu, adding: "Of course we want to see this put into practice." There was no immediate comment from the US side regarding the content of the telephone call between the two leaders. Relations between the US and Turkey have been strained since the administration of former President Barack Obama over its support for the YPG and the failure to extradite Pennsylvania-based Fethullah Gulen blamed for ordering last year's coup bid. Bilateral ties are at further risk of fraying over a scheduled trial in New York of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, both accused of defying US sanctions on Iran. The trial is expected to start early next month but there are fears over possible fines against one or more Turkish banks in the event of a guilty verdict. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-11-25 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=502420 |