ANKARA: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Turkish leaders Thursday for talks clouded by differences over Syria, a day after Ankara announced the end of its military offensive there.
Tillerson, the most senior US official to visit Turkey since President Donald Trump took office in January, is seeking to turn around recently rocky relations between the NATO allies. He met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for over two hours, after talks with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The trip comes after Turkey announced “Euphrates Shield”, its operation in northern Syria, had ended but did not say if troops had been withdrawn from the war-torn country. Ties between Ankara and Washington were strained during Barack Obama’s administration, particularly over US cooperation with Syrian Kurdish militia fighting against the Islamic State group.
Speaking to NTV television on the eve of Tillerson’s visit, Yildirim said the US had not yet informed Turkey if Ankara would take part in a planned Raqa campaign.—APP
