21 January 2019•Update: 22 January 2019
By Tevfik Durul
ANKARA
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo had a phone conversation on Monday in which they discussed the current situation in Syria, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
Cavusoglu and Pompeo discussed bilateral relations and Washington’s recent decision to withdraw troops from Syria, the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to media, said.
The U.S. State Department, for its part, said the secretary of state reiterated Washington's commitment to addressing Turkish security concerns along the Turkey-Syria border.
Pompeo also emphasized the "importance that the United State places on the protection of forces that worked with the United States and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS," Spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a statement, using another name for Daesh.
"They discussed ongoing U.S.-Turkish engagement as part of the deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria," Palladino added.
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced plans to withdraw American forces from the war-weary country.
Trump made the decision during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the two leaders agreed on the need for more effective coordination vis-à-vis Syria.
In a phone call last week, Erdogan and Trump discussed the idea of establishing a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria near the Turkish border.
* Servet Gunerigok in Washington contributed to the story.
