Pence Gets Icy Reception As He Presses Erdogan For Syria Ceasefire

Visible tension pervaded the icy photo opp during Thursday’s meeting between Vice President Mike Pence and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara — a meeting which the latter initially rejected, saying he would only meet with Trump, amid a White House initiative to push for a ceasefire in northern Syria. 

The Pence-Pompeo-Erdogan meeting, which reports say lasted for about 90 minutes, which was significantly “longer than planned,” also came after Trump’s strange “don’t be a fool” letter to Erdogan was made public, which Turkish officials say Erdogan threw in the trash.

More pics from Pence, Erdogan meeting.

STILL NOT HAPPY pic.twitter.com/VmZ1a10QVL

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 17, 2019

It was further less than 24 hours after Trump seemed to downplay Turkey’s invasion against US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria, saying the fight was over land that “has nothing to do with us.”

VIDEO from Erdogan, Pence meeting

Pence and Erdogan are stiff.

“Thanks for seeing me” Pence says.

Ambassador Jeffrey addresses Erdogan in Turkish pic.twitter.com/2AtxIhQNmc

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 17, 2019

The president told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday, “If Turkey goes into Syria, that’s between Turkey and Syria,” and added, “It’s not between Turkey and the United States.”

Here is ⁦@SecPompeo⁩ and ⁦@VP⁩ and erdogan. A US official tell us pence asked ⁦@trpresidency⁩ twice to allow media in. We were allowed in — no questions allowed — for about 45 seconds. pic.twitter.com/eZESiI1iwe

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 17, 2019

All of this means that the US delegation went to Ankara with perhaps significantly less leverage (also considering Erdogan isn’t dealing with Trump directly); however, also after the White House authorized sanctions on Turkey this week, vowing that more could come. 

The US has demanded that Erdogan immediately halt his ‘Operation Peace Spring’ — to which Erdogan responded this week he’ll pursue the Turkish ‘safe zone’ in northern Syria even without international backing or support of allies. 

A Turkish official told Reuters of Trump’s now viral letter, which apparently wasn’t reviewed or proofed by his staff: “The letter Trump sent did not have the impact he expected in Turkey because it had nothing to take seriously.”

“What is clear is that Turkey does not want a terrorist organization on its border and the operation will not stop because of the reaction that has been coming.”

developing…