Turkey, Us Continue Talks On Defeating Isıl In Syria

- Turkish and American officials continued talks, on July 8, over how to enhance ongoing cooperation in the fight against Islamic jihadists in Syria after an eight-hour long meeting July 7.

The American team, led by U.S. President Barack Obama’s special coordinator in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), while Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu chaired the Turkish team in talks.

Christine Wormuth, the undersecretary of defense for policy, was also included in the delegation that held talks with Turkish officials. The U.S. delegation also met Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on July 7.

The first meeting took around eight hours, in a bid to show the intensity of the issues discussed by the two countries. A U.S. source described the meetings as focused on “the ongoing cooperation to degrade and defeat ISIL.”

There were no statements from either side after the first day’s meeting. The meeting comes after Turkey reinforced its military presence on the Syrian border in a bid to deter ISIL’s advance on northwestern Syria, which is under the ostensible control of the Free Syrian Army.