By Alex Leary and David Gauthier-Villars
Turkey has agreed to suspend military activities in Syria for
five days, allowing time for Kurdish forces to withdraw, and in
return the U.S. will pull back on economic sanctions, Vice
President Mike Pence said here following a day of negotiations.
Mr. Pence, who led more than four hours of talks with Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, said the U.S was
working with Kurdish forces on an orderly withdrawal.
"Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a cease-fire
in Syria, " Mr. Pence said, adding that Turkey would pause military
operations for 120 hours while Kurdish forces withdraw from a safe
zone. Once that withdrawal is complete, the cease-fire will become
permanent, he said.
While Mr. Pence called the move a cease-fire during a press
conference in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
shortly thereafter called the move a pause, saying "This is not a
cease-fire."
Mr. Cavusoglu stressed that the pause was contingent upon
Kurdish-led forces leaving the safe-zone area, the collection of
heavy weapons and the destruction of fortifications. "Taking a
pause doesn't mean that our soldiers will withdraw."
The two sides also disagreed on the future of the Syrian city of
Kobane, which is under Kurdish control. Mr. Cavusoglu denied Mr.
Pence's assertion that Turkey had agreed not to take action against
the Kurdish stronghold.
"We will be there and we will continue to be there," Mr.
Cavusoglu said, adding, "With today's negotiations, we've obtained
what we wanted thanks to the adroit leadership of our
president."
Representatives of Kurdish groups didn't immediately respond to
a request for comment. A commander of the Kurdish peoples'
protection units known as the YPG confirmed that Kurdish forces had
received orders from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces
leadership to stop fighting.
"On our side we have stopped, but we are still holding our
positions," he said. "Because you can't trust those sons of
bitches."
The Assad regime didn't immediately react to the U.S.-Turkey
deal. It has previously called Turkey's action in the country an
aggression.
President Trump called Thursday's developments "an amazing
outcome" and praised Mr. Erdogan, who he said would visit the White
House in November.
Mr. Trump has been under expanding political pressure in the
U.S. to roll back the Turkish assault on areas controlled by Kurds,
who have been a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic
State.
Two-thirds of House Republicans joined with Democrats on
Wednesday in a vote denouncing Mr. Trump's decision to withdraw a
small U.S. force from northeastern Syria, a move critics said gave
Turkey a green light to move in.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would
impose harsh sanctions on Turkey on Thursday, though Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has yet to say whether he would
bring the measure to the floor for a vote.
Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.),
one of the bill's sponsors, said sponsors plan to push ahead for
passage regardless of whether fighting halts.
Mr. Pence and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the
Turkish capital on Thursday to press Mr. Erdogan to halt a
cross-border offensive in northeastern Syria that has deepened a
rift between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.
Turkey launched a military campaign last week to seize territory
held by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria after the withdrawal of
American troops from the region. Its forces have since captured
more than 400 square miles of territory using heavy artillery and
aerial bombardments despite global condemnation and threats of
fresh U.S. sanctions.
Mr. Trump dispatched the delegation following a Monday phone
call with Mr. Erdogan, who had ignored U.S. warnings over the
military offensive.
The hastily arranged visit underscored rapid developments in the
region and growing bipartisan alarm in Washington as Mr. Trump said
the Turkish assault had "nothing to do with us" and describing the
U.S.-allied Kurds as "not angels" only hours before the officials
departed for Ankara.
Mr. Trump's national-security adviser, Robert O'Brien, arrived a
day earlier and held advance talks with Mr. Cavusoglu.
The crisis began after Mr. Trump's Oct. 6 order to withdraw
about 1,000 troops from northeastern Syria, contending he was
keeping a campaign promise to get the U.S. out of protracted
overseas engagements. He has also said he didn't want U.S. troops
in the middle of a longstanding feud between Turkey and Kurdish
fighters.
Ahead of Mr. Pence's trip to Ankara, the White House released a
brief letter written by Mr. Trump to Mr. Erdogan in which the U.S.
president implored his counterpart in colloquial language to be
reasonable, urging him: "don't be a fool." The letter was sent on
Oct. 9.
After reading Mr. Trump's letter, Mr. Erdogan threw it in a
waste bin, Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet reported, citing
sources within the Turkish presidency. The president's response was
to launch the offensive in northeastern Syria, the newspaper
said.
Turkish media refrained from quoting excerpts of the letter,
only referring to a document that lacked any diplomatic
courtesy.
Mr. Trump has denied any responsibility for the unfolding chaos,
which has, among other things, emboldened Russia to send soldiers
to the area. Abandoned by the U.S., the Kurds, who have helped
fight Islamic State terrorists, have turned to Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad for protection.
For Mr. Pence, the mission is among his most high profile and
complicated, a sharp detour from what has been a recent focus on
generating congressional support for passage of Mr. Trump's
reworked trade accord with Mexico and Canada.
Mr. Trump had threatened that he was "fully prepared to swiftly
destroy Turkey's economy." So far, Mr. Trump has authorized
sanctions on Turkey's defense, interior and energy ministers,
raised steel tariffs on Turkey and halted talks aimed at expanded
trade.
Fighting that pits the Turkish military against the Kurdish-led
militia has caused the deaths of 218 civilians, including 18
children on the Syrian side, according to an aid worker affiliated
with the semiautonomous Kurdish region. Turkish officials said
Wednesday that 19 civilians were killed by mortars shot from the
Syrian side.
Earlier Thursday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces,
which Turkey views as a terrorist threat, said it suspects that
banned weapons were used against its fighters in Ras al-Ain, a town
on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey.
"We urge international organizations to send their teams to
investigate some wounds sustained in attacks," SDF spokesman
Mustafa Bali said on Twitter.
A senior Turkish official rejected the allegation. "We are
receiving information that the terrorist organization will use
chemical weapons and try to blame our armed forces for it to create
a negative perception about this," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi
Akar said. "It is a known fact by everyone that Turkey's armed
forces do not possess chemical weapons in its inventory."
The SDF claim couldn't be independently verified. Most rights
groups and nongovernmental organizations have left the area since
the start of the Turkish offensive. Chemical weapons have
previously been used in Syria's multisided war.
--Isabel Coles, Dion Nissenbaum and Vivian Salama contributed to
this article.
Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com and David
Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 17, 2019 15:51 ET (19:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.