Advertisement
Turkey
WorldMiddle East

‘We are not going to act alone any longer’: Tillerson says US, Turkey will work together in Syria after crisis

Foreign ministers from both nations gave few details on how this could be achieved, but indicated that solving a dispute over the control of the flashpoint town of Manbij was a priority

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shakes hands with Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Photo: AP
Agence France-Presse

Turkey and United States on Friday agreed to work together in Syria after weeks of tensions over Ankara’s latest cross-border operation that raised fears of a military confrontation between the two Nato allies.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu said after talks in Ankara that the two sides would set up working groups to solve key issues that have bedevilled relations.

They gave few details on how this could be achieved, but indicated that solving a dispute over the control of the flashpoint town of Manbij was a priority.

Advertisement

“We are not going to act alone any longer, not US doing one thing, Turkey doing another,” Tillerson said after the talks.

“We will work together … we have good mechanisms on how we can achieve this, there is a lot of work to be done,” he added.

Advertisement

Cavusoglu said Turkey and the US were agreed on the need to normalise relations.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x