Trump Team Wins Five-Day Ceasefire from Turkey, Followed by Permanent Ceasefire

Oct. 17, 2019 (EIRNS)—After more than four hours of negotiations, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his team got Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to agree to a five-day ceasefire to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from a 20-mile buffer zone to be established in Syria south of the Turkish border. Although the Kurds were not party to the negotiation, Vice President Pence said they had signed on to it.

Pence said the Turkish ceasefire would become permanent once the Kurdish forces withdrew, and that U.S. sanctions against Turkey would end once that permanent ceasefire was in effect, according to the White House transcript of his remarks today.