Logo

Logo

Turkey President Erdogan to meet Donald Trump at White House today

The development comes only a month after Trump, wrote a letter to Erdogan, calling him a “fool” over Turkey’s military offensive in Syria.

Turkey President Erdogan to meet Donald Trump at White House today

U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo: IANS)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

The development comes only a month after Trump, wrote a letter to Erdogan, calling him a “fool” over Turkey’s military offensive in Syria.

Erdogan’s visit to the US comes amid tense relations between the two NATO allies, Arab News reported.

Advertisement

The tensions between the US and Turkey escalated after Ankara launched a military offensive in northeast Syria against Washington-backed Kurdish forces, who are fighting against the terror group Islamic State.

Washington is also angered over Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system. The US has halted the delivery of support equipment and supplies to Turkey for F-35 jet fighter jets. It has also threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey over the Russian defence purchase.

However, Erdogan’s latest visit to the White House might serve to smooth over differences and provide a boost to bilateral trade relations.

Ahead of Erdogan’s visit, Trump has indicated that the US is still considering levying sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of the S-400. Trump has also offered Erdogan a $100 billion trade deal.

Earlier in the month, President Trump had confirmed the visit to his Turkish counterpart to the US.

Trump took to Twitter, saying that he had “a very good call” with Erdogan, adding that he looked forward to meeting his Turkish counterpart on November 13 at the White House”.

The Turkish President recently signalled that he had second thoughts about the planned visit due to measures that the US legislative adopted against Ankara.

Trump had also announced to authorise sanctions against Turkish officials, raise steel tariffs and end negotiations on a USD 100 billion trade deal.

Since his announcement last December to pull out all troops from Syria, Trump has softened plans and agreed to keep a residual force in the northeastern part of the country. As part of that plan, Washington wants to continue working with SDF fighters in the region to press on Islamic State, a move Ankara dislikes.

Advertisement