Pompeo, Turkish Defense Minister Discuss Actions During US Pullout From Syria- State Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) US State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held phone talks in which they discussed actions of the two countries during the US military pullout from Syria, the US State Department deputy spokesman, Robert Palladino, said on Monday.

"They discussed ongoing US-Turkish engagement as part of the deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of US forces from Syria. Secretary Pompeo reiterated the commitment of the United States to addressing Turkish security concerns along the Turkey-Syria border, while emphasizing the importance that the United States places on the protection of forces that worked with the United States and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS [banned in Russia]," the press release, published on the state department's website, said.

In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara was ready to launch a military operation against Kurdish fighters on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River as well as in Syria's Manbij, located near the Turkish border, if the United States did not remove the militia from there. He later said that he had decided to postpone the start of the military operation in Syria after a phone conversation with Trump on December 14, during which the US president also revealed his plans to withdraw troops from Syria.