Erdoğan says US not fulfilling Syria deal ahead of Trump talks

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday the United States was not fulfilling its pledge to remove the YPG terror group from a Syrian border region and he will raise the issue when he meets President Donald Trump next week.

A month ago, Turkey launched a cross-border offensive with Syrian opposition fighter against the YPG and after seizing control of a 120 km (75 miles) swathe of territory reached a deal with the United States to keep them out of that area.

Erdogan is set to discuss implementation of the agreement with Trump in Washington on Nov. 13 after confirming that the visit would go ahead following a phone call between the leaders overnight.

"While we hold these talks, those who promised us that the YPG...would withdraw from here within 120 hours have not achieved this," he told a news conference, referring to a deadline set in last month's agreement.

Turkish officials had previously said Erdogan might call off the U.S. visit in protest at U.S. House of Representatives' votes to recognise the Armenian events in 1915 in Turkey a century ago as genocide and to seek sanctions on Turkey.

After the deal with Washington, Ankara also reached an agreement with Moscow under which the YPG was to withdraw to a depth of 30 km along the entirety of the northeastern Syrian border with Turkey.

But Erdogan said this deal had also not been fulfilled, with YPG fighters still in the border strip, adding that he would hold talks with Putin soon on the issue.

CLASHES IN SYRIA

Speaking to reporters before leaving on a visit to Hungary, Erdogan said clashes in Syria were continuing, with 11 fighters from the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) killed on Thursday.

"These terrorists are attacking the SNA, and the SNA is retaliating in kind. There are 11 martyrs from the SNA this morning. Many more were killed on the other side," he said.

Under the two bilateral deals, Ankara stopped its offensive in return for the withdrawal of the YPG fighters. Turkish and Russian soldiers have so far held two joint patrols near the border to monitor implementation of their agreement.