Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The President of the USA and Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Donald trump agreed to cooperate in the attack on the Syrian city of al-Bab and raqqa. About it reports Reuters, citing its sources close to the Turkish leader.
According to the Agency, in a telephone conversation held on the night of 7 to 8 February, the heads of state discussed the creation of a “security zone” in Syria, the refugee crisis and the fight against terrorism.
It is also reported that Erdogan tried to convince trump to abandon support for Syrian Kurds, which Ankara considered terrorists. This issue will be discussed during the visit of the CIA Director Mike Pompeo in Turkey, which will be held on Thursday, February 9. In addition, it is expected that the parties raised the issue of extradition of living in the United States preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of organizing the coup in July 2016.
Earlier in a statement the White house stated that trump confirmed that Turkey is a strategic partner of the US and a NATO ally, said “a common commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms” for both countries and said that he welcomes the contribution of Ankara in the fight against “Islamic state”.
Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the US has
assistance with money, weapons and military advisers to the Syrian Kurds, leading the fight against banned terrorist organization “Islamic state” (IG). Ankara was angered that the Americans are helping Kurds refuse to cover from the air Turkish military and their allies of the free Syrian army, ISIS storming the occupied city of al-Bab, although Turkey is a US ally in NATO.