FM Çavuşoğlu: We Expect Trump to Keep His Promise

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has attended the congress of his party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in Kemer, Antalya.

Issuing a statement to the journalists following the meeting, Minister Çavuşoğlu also spoke about the phone conversation between President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President of the United States (US) Donald Trump.

Responding to journalists’ questions about Trump telling Erdoğan that they will not deliver arms to the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Minister Çavuşoğlu said:

“Of course, it is our right to expect Mr. Trump to keep his promise. Our expectations from an ally country is very clear. We don’t expect too much. We either don’t want a positive discrimination for Turkey. We say, ‘Do not cooperate with terror organizations that endanger Syrian’s future and pose a threat to us’.

“The number of YPG terrorists crossing over the border with which weapons is known. There are also documents revealing that PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) has taken possession of the weapons. Therefore, our President has conveyed our expectations to Mr. Trump once again”.

What happened?

Stating that they object to YPG attending the National Dialogue Congress to be held in Sochi, Çavuşoğlu said “One of the subjects that damage our relation with the US most is the arms that the US delivered to the YPG, in addition to FETÖ (Fethullahist Terror Organization) and other matters. We saw that armored vehicles were delivered as well recently. Mr. President [Erdoğan] conveyed our concerns to Mr. Trump once again. Mr. Trump clearly said that he ordered not to deliver any arms to the YPG anymore, and this nonsense should have been ended earlier”.

White House hasn’t confirmed Çavuşoğlu’s statement

Without addressing details, the White House instead says Trump “informed President Erdogan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria, now that the battle of Raqqa is complete and we are progressing into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return.”