Turkey agrees to ceasefire in northern Syria, says US vice-president Mike Pence

Luke O'Reilly17 October 2019

Turkey has agreed to a five-day ceasefire in northern Syria, US vice-president Mike Pence has said.

Mr Pence spoke after US officials met Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

He said there will "a pause in military operations for 120 hours" to allow US-allied Syrian Kurds to withdraw.

The vice-president said the US and Turkey have "mutually committed to peaceful resolution and future for the safe zone".

Mr Pence also said that once a ceasefire is in place the US will impose no further sanctions on Turkey and that it will withdraw existing sanctions after the Turkish military operation is done.

"With the implementation (of the ceasefire) the U.S. will not impose further sanctions on Turkey," Pence said after talks in Ankara. "The president has decided to withdraw the economic sanctions" once the operation is done, he added.

Turkey launched its assault on northern Syria last week to expel the YPG, a Kurdish militia it considers to be a terrorist group, and to resettle Syrian refugees.

US President Donald Trump was heavily criticised by both Republicans and Democrats for his decision to facilitate Turkey's military operation by ordering the withdrawal of US troops from the area.

On Twitter President Trump hailed the news as a "great day for civilisation".

In another tweet the President said: "This deal could NEVER have been made 3 days ago. There needed to be some “tough” love in order to get it done. Great for everybody. Proud of all!"

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