In their first official call since Trump’s return to office, the pair discussed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, the situation in Syria, and lifting US sanctions on Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held his first phone call with President Donald Trump on Sunday touching on a range of issues, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a readout from Turkey’s Presidential Communications Directorate.
Erdogan offered support to Trump’s effort to end the three-year-long war and called for closer coordination between Ankara and Washington, the directorate noted in its statement.
Erdogan also raised the topic of Syria, where some 2,000 US forces are partnered with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to combat the Islamic State, emphasizing the need to restore stability to the war-ravaged country and lift sanctions. US sanctions remain a big obstacle to desperately needed financial assistance that regional nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar are eager to provide to Syria’s new Islamist government, but are loath to disburse for fear of blowback from the international financial system.
Interestingly, Ankara’s readout made no mention of Turkey’s long-running demand that the United States end its partnership with the SDF on the grounds that it is linked to another Kurdish group that is fighting Turkey. This may be linked to Turkey’s ongoing efforts to strike a deal with that group — the Kurdistan Workers Party — to end its more than 40-year-long armed insurgency against the Turkish state.
Erdogan additionally called for an end to sanctions imposed by the United States Congress under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act on Turkey’s defense industry. The sanctions are linked to Turkey’s acquisition of Russian-made S400 missile batteries and its 2019 invasion of Kurdish-controlled northern Syria.
There was no readout from the White House as of time of publication of this article.
Trump and Erdogan enjoyed a cordial if sometimes bumpy relationship during the former’s first term as president, with Turkey’s jailing of an American pastor on specious terrorism charges poisoning ties. In early January, Trump praised Erdogan at a news conference saying, “President Erdogan is a friend of mine. He’s a guy I like, respect. I think he respects me also.” He added that Erdogan had desisted from attacking Turkey’s “natural enemies,” the Kurds, after he said, “Please don’t do that.”