Pompeo: The U.S. “still has the commitments” from leaders that the ceasefire agreement he cut with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday in Ankara, Turkey, would take effect, despite new reports from the region that violence was still flaring
ABOARD THE SECRETARY OF STATE’S PLANE — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo forcefully defended the ceasefire agreement the United States brokered in Syria, brushed back accusations that the Kurds were sold out and said, despite reports of fighting Friday, he is “confident” that a pause in violence will take hold.
The agreement – which was reached over four hours of negotiating at the Turkish presidential palace with Vice President Mike Pence – calls for a pause of violence for 120 hours to allow for the Kurds to leave northeast Syria. In exchange, the United States dropped plans for new sanctions on Turkey, and said, if the ceasefire is successful, it would remove existing sanctions.
In the interview, Pompeo said the hammer United States used in the talks was a new round of sanctions it was prepared to levy on Turkey. The Turks, he said, then offered what they “were prepared to deliver in exchange for relief from that.”
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