WASHINGTON/ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited US President Donald Trump to visit Turkey in 2019, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said on Monday.
“While nothing definite is being planned, the President is open to a potential meeting in the future,” Gidley told reporters.
Trump had a phone call with Erdogan on Monday over Syria issues, describing the conversation as “long and productive.”
Meanwhile, President Erdogan’s spokesman said on Monday, a US military delegation will visit Turkey this week to discuss the withdrawal of American ground forces from Syria.
“They will discuss how to coordinate (the withdrawal) with their counterparts,” Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in Ankara after US President Donald Trump’s shock decision last week to order the pull-out of 2,000 troops.
The decision to withdraw US troops in Syria was widely regarded as the last straw for Defense Secretary James Mattis’ resignation on Dec. 20.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/us-defence-chief-jim-mattis-quits-trump-administration-over-syria-withdrawal/
The departing Mattis has signed the executive order detailing the US troops withdrawal from Syria, reported US media on Sunday.
The United States has deployed troops since 2015, and there are more than 2,000 US soldiers in Syria currently.
The United States has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for a long time in the battles against the IS, managing to make important achievement in defeating IS in its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria in 2017.
However, Turkey has for long been outright about its hostility to the Kurdish forces.
