On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his American counterpart Donald Trump discussed the Sochi summit, ongoing crisis in Syria and regional problems over the phone call. As the Turkish Daily Sabah reports in the article entitled ‘Trump told Erdoğan no more FM will be provided for YPG: FM Çavuşoğlu’, this morning Trump announced a scheduled phone call to discuss the issue of bringing peace in the Middle East, two days after the summit of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Syria. Trump made the announcement through Twitter at 7.04 a.m. Washington time.
Trump railed during his campaign about the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but has boasted about progress in recent months under his watch. Trump said in a series of tweets that he'll "get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars to be there in the first place!"
It's unclear exactly which countries he's referring to, but Trump has cited $6 trillion in the past to assess U.S. spending on conflicts in the Middle East.
Fact checkers have found that number to be only partially accurate since it falls on the high end of analysts' estimates and includes future medical care and disability benefits and nation-building costs.
Turkey opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, a decision that raised tensions between the nations. However, recent events have strained the relationship between the two NATO allies to levels not seen in decades, as Ankara appears ever friendlier with Russia.
The views of Turkey and the United States on the future of Syria vary greatly: the US supports the Syrian detachments of the PKK terrorist group, the Democratic Union party and its armed wing People's Self-Defense Forces (YPG) in the war against Daesh (banned in the Russian Federation). This does not suit Ankara.
During the phone call, Trump has also touched upon the issue regarding the detention of two locally employed staff at a U.S. consulate in Turkey, who were arrested over suspected links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), while Erdoğan criticized the U.S. move to indict 15 Turkish security officials during his Washington visit in May, calling the indictment "undemocratic" and labeling it as not binding for Turkey.
Turkey also wants Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) extradited on charges of related to July 15 coup attempt, sham trials and infiltration into state institutions.
Meanwhile, a trial is ongoing against Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab and one of state-run lender Halkbank's deputy general managers, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, both accused of skirting sanctions on Iran in a gold-for-oil deal. Turkish officials argue that the case is politically motivated and based on illegally-gathered and false evidence obtained by FETÖ-linked police officers and prosecutors.