Turkey Embraces Russia, Condemns US Envoy And US Peace Plan

Turkey’s President Erdogan speaks to Trump after slamming the US, while its foreign minister seeks to work with Russia in meetings about Syria crises. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said US envoy to Turkey, James Jeffrey, was not convincing, despite Jeffrey describing Turkish soldiers as martyrs and saying the US supports Turkey.

Ankara appeared to mock the US envoy and call into question his credibility on Saturday even though Jeffrey gave an interview in Turkish to Turkish media and embraced Ankara last week. Turkey also slammed the US peace plan minutes before Turkey’s president spoke to US President Donald Trump. Meanwhile Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and says tensions in Idlib will not harm relations with Moscow.

Turkey has been seeking to build an alliance with Moscow  in recent years, buying its S-400 air defense system, and seeking to grow trade with the Russians. Turkey and Russia also built a pipeline called TurkStream. A Russian-backed Syrian regime offensive in Idlib has led to half a million Syrians fleeing and Turkey ostensibly supports the Syrian opposition. Thirteen Turkish soldiers have been killed by Syrian regime shelling in Idlib and Turkey has sent hundreds  of  armored vehicles and thousands of soldiers into Idlib in the last week. However Turkey’s real power play is merely to get a better deal with Russia. -Full Report