Turkey rejects calls for ceasefire in Syria
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The reading
US President Donald Trump has asked Turkey's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end his country's military actions in northern Syria. Turkey started attacking towns in northern Syria last week following the USA pulling out a group of its troops in the area. Soon after the US withdrawal, Turkey launched attacks on Kurdish fighters. It wants to create a buffer zone on its border that is free of Kurds. President Trump called for an immediate ceasefire in the region and for talks with the Kurds. US Vice-President Mike Pence told President Erdogan: "The USA wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence".
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President Erdogan has vowed that Turkey would press ahead with its offensive in northern Syria despite calls from around the world to stop its incursion. He said: "We will never declare a ceasefire. The USA is pressuring us to stop the operation. It is announcing sanctions. Our goal is clear. We are not worried about any sanctions." He wrote in the Wall Street Journal that: "The international community missed its opportunity to prevent the Syrian crisis from pulling an entire region into a maelstrom of instability. The European Union and the world should support what Turkey is trying to do." President Trump said yesterday: "It is not our problem. It is time for us to go home."
Sources:
- https://news.sky.com/story/us-demands-syria-ceasefire-as-it-announces-sanctions-against-turkey-11835978
- https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/10/16/trumps-light-sanctions-are-a-relief-for-bruised-turkish-lira/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/erdogan-trump-turkey-syria-ceasefire-sanctions-a9157621.html
