Erdogan

Sept. 25 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss a potential arms deal, lifting sanctions against Turkey and Middle East peace while meeting on Thursday.

Trump and Erdogan are meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, which will include discussions regarding Erdogan’s desire to purchase F-16 and F-35 fighter aircraft and Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, they told media before their closed-door meeting.

“We do a lot of trade with Turkey, and we’re going to do some more,” Trump told media.

He said a deal for F-16s is likely and a deal for F-35s and the Patriot missiles could be made.

“I think he’ll be successful,” Trump said of Erdogan’s effort to secure a deal for F-35 fighters.

Turkey also wants to buy 200 commercial aircraft, the BBC reported.

The presidents said they are friends and highly respectful of one another, which should make it easier to reach agreements on the many issues that they will discuss.

They also will discuss matters in Gaza and the Middle East, potential assistance for the Greek Orthodox Church and ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump said he wants Turkey to stop buying Russian oil and is prepared to lift existing sanctions against Turkey for that nation’s past purchase of Russian arms.

The president also said they will discuss tariffs and securing the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Trump said about 20 hostages likely are living and estimated about 38 likely are dead, many of them young boys.

Following his meeting with Erdogan, the president also is scheduled to meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday.

U.S. and Pakistani officials in July secured a trade agreement to lower tariffs between the two nations.

The U.S. also agreed to help Pakistan develop its oil reserves.

First day of high-level meeting to kick off with speeches from world leaders, including from Brazil, US, Turkiye, Qatar and France.

After announcing they would disarm, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) destroyed their weapons in northern Iraq.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the country has begun a new era as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began to disarm after a four-decade armed conflict that killed more than 40,000 people.

In an address to his party, Justice and Development (AKP), Erdogan said on Saturday that the “scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending”.

“Decades of sorrow, tears and distress came to an end. Turkiye turned that page as of yesterday,” Erdogan said.

“Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkiye have been flung wide open,” the president added.

In a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, 30 PKK members burned their weapons, marking a hugely symbolic step towards ending their armed campaign against Turkiye.

During Friday’s ceremony, senior PKK figure Bese Hozat read out a statement at the Jasana cave in the town of Dukan, 60 km (37 miles) northwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdish of Iraq’s north, announcing the group’s decision to disarm.

“We voluntarily destroy our weapons, in your presence, as a step of goodwill and determination,” she said.

Since 1984, the PKK has been locked in armed conflict with the Turkish state and decided in May to disarm and disband after a public call from the group’s long-imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan said in a video earlier this week, which was recorded in June by the groups affiliated with Firat News Agency, that the move to disarm was a “ voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law” calling it a “historic gain”.

Further disarmament is expected to take place at a designated locations, which involves the coordination between Turkiye, Iraq and the Kurdish regional government in Iraq.

Accusing Western leaders of ‘unconditional support’ to Israel, Turkish leader says his country will not allow Middle East borders to be redrawn ‘in blood’.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the “biggest obstacle to regional peace” and that Israeli attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations.

Addressing Arab League diplomats during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.

Israeli attacks on Iran show that Netanyahu “and his government … do not want any issues or any matters to be solved diplomatically,” said Erdogan.

“Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag our region and … the whole world into a big disaster,” he added.

Erdogan accused the Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel. He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood”.

“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry – not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC gathering.

The 57-member OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”.

Speaking before Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of leading the Middle East towards “total disaster” by attacking Iran.

“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour,” he said. “There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem.”

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said Turkiye as the current OIC chair sees itself well-placed in helping to find a resolution to the Israel-Iran conflict.

“It is a NATO member country placed between the Western and Muslim worlds, and has strong bilateral relations with Iran, the Western world and the United States. And until a few years ago, it had strong relations with Israel,” she said.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country was only prepared to engage with the US if Israel stops its attacks on Iran.

“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” said Araghchi.

“We support the continuation of discussion with [Britain, France, Germany and the EU] and express our readiness to meet again in the near future.”

President Erdogan holds talks with Prime Minister Sharif aimed at ‘increasing solidarity in education, intelligence sharing and technological support’.

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul, weeks after a military conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi.

The two countries would strive to boost cooperation, particularly in defence, energy and transportation, Erdogan’s office said on Sunday.

Erdogan told Sharif it was in the interest of Turkey and Pakistan to increase solidarity in education, intelligence sharing and technological support in the fight against “terrorism”, Turkiye president’s office said.

The meeting in the Turkish commercial capital comes as Ankara faces a backlash from India over its alleged supply of weapons to Islamabad during the recent conflict between the two South Asian neighbours. Ankara has denied sending weapons to Pakistan.

In recent weeks, Erdogan had expressed solidarity with Pakistan after India conducted military attacks across nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. New Delhi said the attacks were in response to an April 22 attack on tourists by armed fighters in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, which left 25 Indians and one Nepalese national dead. India has accused Pakistan of indirectly supporting the attack – which Pakistan denies.

Turkiye had warned of a risk of an “all-out war” between the nuclear-armed neighbours and called on both sides to “show good sense” to reduce the tensions, while expressing support for Islamabad’s request for an international inquiry into the Pahalgam attack.

The two countries announced a ceasefire on May 10.

Turkiye faces backlash in India

Turkiye and Pakistan have long had close economic and military links.

In February, Erdogan visited Islamabad, during which the two countries signed 24 cooperation agreements to bolster bilateral ties.

In a sign of India’s displeasure with Ankara, India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson last week said that “relations are built on the basis of sensitivities to each other’s concerns”.

“We expect Turkey to strongly urge Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism and take credible and verifiable actions against the terror ecosystem it has harbored for decades,” Randhir Jaiswal said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, grocery shops and leading online fashion retailers in India declared a boycott of Turkish products ranging from chocolates, coffee, jams, and cosmetics, as well as clothing.

Indian fashion websites owned by Flipkart retail and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance removed numerous Turkish apparel brands from their sites.

India’s annual $2.7bn in goods imports from Turkiye, however, are dominated by mineral fuels and precious metals. We still do not know how the bilateral trade will be impacted amid the strained ties.

Indian travel companies also suspended bookings of flights, hotels and holiday packages to Turkiye “in solidarity with India’s national interest and sovereignty”.

India has not officially ordered companies to boycott Turkish products. But the country’s civil aviation ministry on May 15 revoked the security clearance of the Turkish-based aviation ground handling firm Celebi.

The meeting comes after the US and the EU agreed to lift sanctions to allow the civil war-hit country to recover and rebuild.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in Istanbul as Western sanctions on Syria are lifted.

The two leaders were pictured by Turkiye’s state media shaking hands after an official reception and joining for a meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Saturday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, National Intelligence Organisation director Ibrahim Kalin, and secretary of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun were part of the talks, which were closed to the press.

Al-Sharaa, who enjoyed sweeping Turkish backing in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was accompanied by his Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

The Syrian interim leader was also received by Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, in early February, in what was his second international trip after a visit to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The two sides have been discussing deepening bilateral relations and the reconstruction of Syria, as regional allies helped convince United States President Donald Trump to lift devastating sanctions imposed on Syria.

Washington on Friday lifted the first sanctions as part of the drive announced by Trump during his regional tour earlier this month. The European Union has also followed suit, lifting economic sanctions to help with Syria’s recovery after years of civil war.

The new Syrian government has welcomed the lifting of the sanctions, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday describing the move as a “positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.

The first of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed in 1979, when Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, was in power. But they were hugely levelled up after the al-Assad government launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011, which triggered the country’s civil war.

The sanctions targeted any entity or company working with the al-Assad establishment, including those involved in rebuilding the country.