United States Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (L) tours Pabrade military training area in Lithuania, May 10, 2017. (Reuters)
Mattis affirms US commitment to NATO ally Turkey
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reiterated on Thursday Washington’s commitment to protecting NATO ally Turkey after a meeting with the Turkish prime minister in London.
Mattis’s roughly half-hour meeting with Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım in the British capital was the highest-level meeting since Washington announced its decision to arm Kurdish fighters in Syria. Both men were attending a conference on Somalia.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the United States to immediately reverse a decision on arming Syrian Kurdish fighters considered by Ankara to be a terror group.
(With Reuters)
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