MESOP NEWS “HARD TALK” : McGURK IN ANKARA / ERDOGAN PHONES TRUMP

2 July 2017 – MESOP – US envoy Brett McGurk visits Ankara

The US envoy for the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS), Brett McGurk, arrived in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials.

The visit comes amid Turkey’s frustrations with a decision by Washington to arm Syrian Kurdish militia in the fight against IS.McGurk will meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and military officers, a Turkish official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said.

 “Pleased to be in Ankara today for consults with NATO ally Turkey on mutual efforts to defeat ISIS and ensure it can never return,” McGurk tweeted on Friday.Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his counterpart Donald Trump spoke on the phone for 40 minutes on Friday.

On Thursday Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that the US has sent a total of 468 trucks of weapons to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) amid statements from Ankara about a possible cross-border operation into areas in northern Syria controlled by Kurdish forces. Erdogan said on Wednesday that Ankara was ready to undertake a new military operation in northern Syria similar to Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched in August of last year.

Reporter’s code: 50101 www.mesop.de