Trump, Erdogan discuss bilateral trade, regional conflicts

US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Tuesday.

According to a White House statement of their conversation, the two leaders “discussed positive trade issues between the United States and Turkey,” and they “underscored our belief in the need for a negotiated settlement of regional issues.”

The White House provided no further details, but according to Turkish media, their conversation focused on the situation in Libya, in addition to a “bilateral trade target of $100 billion.”

No CAATSA Sanctions?

Nothing was said about CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) sanctions, which the US is supposed to impose on Turkey for its purchase of the Russian air defense system, the S-400.

The CAATSA law, passed by Congress in 2017, requires the US to impose sanctions on parties engaged in a “significant transaction” with Russia’s “defense or intelligence sectors.”

Although the S-400 began to arrive in Turkey last summer, and Turkish air force personnel have been trained on the missile system, Trump has been averse to imposing sanctions on Turkey and, so far, has not moved on the issue.

Turkey originally said it would activate the S-400 missile system in April. But three months later, that has yet to happen, providing Trump with a way to avoid taking punitive measures against Turkey.

Regional Conflicts: Syria, Russia, and Strengthening the Regime

The day before his discussion with Trump. Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about what were, at least in part, similar issues.

According to reports of their conversation in the Turkish and Russian media, the two leaders discussed the conflicts in Libya and Syria.

“Regional developments, especially in Syria and Libya were highlighted during their discussion,” Turkey’s semi-official Daily Sabah reported.

Turkey and Russia back opposing sides in both countries, with Turkey backing Bashar al-Assad’s opponents in Syria and the UN-recognized government in Libya. Russia supports the opposite parties.

Syria is far more important to Moscow than Libya, and Russia’s official TASS news agency explained “emphasis was placed” on the “importance of stepping up efforts to assist the Syrian settlement, including the Astana format,” which Russia has developed as an alternative forum to the UN-sponsored talks on a political settlement in line with UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2254, which calls for “free and fair elections” to determine Syria’s future.

The implementation of UNSCR 2254 would end the Assad regime. The Astana format, however, would preserve it, and Moscow appears fixed on keeping the regime, a long-time ally, in power.

Just last week, Moscow succeeded in restricting access for UN humanitarian aid to those areas of Syria not under regime control to just one border crossing—Bab al-Hawa, which supplies the Idlib area. Originally, the UN aid program used four crossings, including al-Yarubiyah, which provided access from Iraq to northeast Syria, which is under the control of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES.)

However, al-Yarubiyah and another border crossing in the south, from Jordan, were closed, when the aid program was renewed in January. A third crossing, Bab al-Salam, from Turkey, which had supplied the Aleppo area, was closed at Russian insistence earlier this month.

The Russian position, which was backed by China and Iran, is that all aid should go through Damascus, which serves to increase the regime’s leverage over those areas.

Neither the Turkish nor US account of the discussion between Trump and Erdogan mentioned Syria, and it may well be that it did not arise in their exchange.

Regional Conflicts: Libya and avoiding a Turkish-Egyptian confrontation

While Turkey backs the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, Russia backs its challenger in the east, the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, a senior military officer under Muammar Gadhafi, who helped to overthrow the Libyan dictator in 2011.

In addition to Russia, Haftar is supported by Egypt, France, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE.)

Earlier this year, Turkey began to intervene militarily in Libya in support of the GNA, which was under siege from Haftar’s forces. In addition to its own forces, Turkey flew Syrian militia fighters, whom it had recruited and backed in that country’s civil war, to Libya to fight on behalf of the GNA.

Last month, the tide turned, as a result of the Turkish intervention. The GNA, Turkey, and its Syrian militias now threaten Libya’s eastern oil-rich region.

The president of neighboring Egypt, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, responded in late June by warning that the area constituted a “red-line,” which, if crossed, could trigger an Egyptian intervention.

On Monday, the Tobruk-based Libyan parliament (there is another in Tripoli) called on Egypt to intervene to block its rivals’ advance.

The deputy speaker of the Egyptian parliament, Soliman Wahdan, responded on Tuesday, hailing the call from the Libyan parliament as “a historic decision aimed at allowing the Egyptian armed forces to stand up to Turkish aggression.”

“In the name of all Egyptian MPs,” Wahdan continued, “we support the Egyptian armed forces taking all the measures necessary to preserve the national security of Egypt and neighboring Libya from any aggression.”

The US does not want to see a conflict between Turkey and Egypt, both of which it considers allies, and it is likely that in his discussion with Erdogan, Trump sought to defuse tensions, while promoting negotiations.

The Libyan conflict also arose in Erdogan’s discussion with Putin. According to TASS, the two presidents “agreed to activate political-diplomatic efforts as soon as possible to end the Libyan conflict,” in accord with UNSCR 2510.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany