BackDonald Trump congratulates Turkey’s President Erdogan on referendum win
Donald Trump congratulates Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his referendum victory, the leaders discuss the Syrian war, which has complicated ties their countries
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Ankara: President Donald Trump called Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on his referendum victory, a sharp departure from the critical reception some European officials have given to the vote to expand Erdogan’s powers.
The White House reported the call in a statement early Tuesday.
European officials have deplored the concentration of so much power in one person’s hands, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has faulted the election process. The vote has fallen under suspicion because ballots that didn’t carry an official stamp were allowed to be tallied. The approval of expanded presidential powers won by a narrow margin of 51.4%.
The White House said the leaders also discussed the war in Syria, which has complicated ties between the two countries.
Erdogan opposes US support for Syrian Kurdish rebels because he considers them terrorists and sees their wartime territorial gains as threatening his country’s efforts to vanquish its own separatist Kurdish insurgency. In his speech on Sunday following the referendum victory, Erdogan said, “We expect those states that we call allies, in particular, to develop their relations with our country in line with our sensitivities, especially on the fight against terrorism."
The White House said the two leaders “agreed on the importance of holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable" and the campaign against Islamic State, including “the need to cooperate against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends." Bloomberg
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