WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is expected to express American uneaseover a Turkish cross-border offensive into Syria, in a call scheduled withcounterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, US officials said Tuesday.
“They are likely to talk soon,” said a senior US administration official,confirming reports of a Trump-Erdogan call set for Wednesday.
The US is urging restraint from Ankara after the Turkish military hitKurdish militias that had aided the American-led fight against the IslamicState group.
The US government and the National Security Council are “concerned aboutthe situation,” said a second senior administration official.
“We hear and we take very seriously Turkey´s legitimate security concerns,”but, he added: “It detracts from efforts to fight the Islamic State group.”
“We are urging Turkey to exercise restraint in its military actions andrhetoric (and) to ensure that its operations are limited in scope andduration,” the second official added. – AFP