A meeting between Turkey and the U.S. that was scheduled to take place on March 19 over Syria’s Manbij town was postponed after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was sacked, the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson has said.
The change in the State Department came as ties between Turkey and the United States are going through turbulence amid disagreements over various issues. Tillerson paid a key visit to Ankara in February aiming to mend ties, agreeing to form joint mechanisms to resolve differences on Syria and bilateral matters.
The first meeting at the technical level took place last week in Washington, where the two sides discussed a model to be implemented in Syria’s Manbij province. Turkey has long been pressing the U.S. to push the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to withdraw from Manbij to the eastern Euphrates.