By POLITICO STAFF
President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart on Friday discussed by phone the crisis in Syria and other issues, including ties between the United States and Turkey, according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press reports that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office stated that the two leaders also discussed regional issues but did not elaborate.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Trump told Erdogan during Friday’s phone call that the United States will cease supplying arms to the Syrian Kurdish fighters, the AP reports. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters to be terrorists.
“Mr. Trump clearly stated that he had given clear instructions and that the YPG won’t be given arms and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago,” Cavusoglu said at a news conference.
The White House did not immediately respond to the AP’s questions on the mater.
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that he’d be speaking with Erdogan on Friday to discuss “bringing peace to the mess I inherited in the Middle East.”
The president’s tweet comes a day after Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at Sochi to try to find a solution to end the fighting in Syria.
“Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East,” Trump tweeted Friday morning. “I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!”
The president did not specify which countries his discussions would focus on, or his overall policy goals for such a call.
His reference to $6 trillion appears to be related to a Nov. 8 Wall Street Journal story on a new study from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, which calculates that the cost to U.S. taxpayers for the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as conflicts in Pakistan and Syria is about $5.6 trillion.
The president also tweeted that after his call with Erdogan, he’ll go golfing with professional golfers Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson.
“After Turkey call I will be heading over to Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter, to play golf (quickly) with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson. Then back to Mar-a-Lago for talks on bringing even more jobs and companies back to the USA!”
