Erdogan, Trump discuss bilateral, regional issues

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump discussed bilateral and regional issues over the phone, Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın said Thursday, Daily Sabah reports.

The phone conversation marks the third time the two presidents speak since November 2017 and it has been two months since their last call.

Speaking in an interview with the official Anadolu Agency, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu previously said Thursday that the two leaders will hold a phone call later in the day.

Çavuşoğlu also said that, if the U.S. and Turkey cannot agree on a path forward in Manbij, Turkey would move to clear PKK-backed People's Protection Units (YPG) from the northern Syrian city. "If this plan is not realized, the only option left will be clearing away terrorists. This is not just valid for Syria, but also for Iraq," he said.