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United States' Pompeo says plans to meet Turkey's Erdogan 'face-to-face'

Reuters
WashingtonUpdated: Oct 16, 2019, 06:39 PM IST
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File photo: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Photograph:(Reuters)

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Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said he and US Vice President Mike Pence expect to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said he and US Vice President Mike Pence expect to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan when they travel to Turkey this week.

Pompeo, in an interview on Fox Business Network, said the US delegation was planning to leave later on Wednesday and that the goal was to find a resolution to the situation in Syria, not break the US-Turkey relationship.

Vice President Mike Pence will leave within 24 hours to Ankara to press Turkey for a ceasefire in its offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters, a US official said Tuesday.

"We will launching off to Ankara in the next 24 hours," the official said, a day after Pence announced his trip to Turkey without specifying the timing.

Turkey on Tuesday vowed to pursue its Syria offensive and slammed a "dirty deal" between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and Kurdish forces after the withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria.