Mike Pompeo has become the latest official to join Mike Pence on a trip to Turkey to broker a peace deal and stop the Turkish invasion of Syria.
Robert O’Brien, the national security adviser will also accompany the duo.
The delegation will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the hope of reversing the Turkish invasion that has already caused the displacement of over 160,000 civilians from the Syrian Northern border with Turkey.
The peace negotiations have been bolstered by the latest sanctions seeking to pressure the Middle East country to halt its invasion in the war-torn country. Trump has promised tough sanctions against the country following its invasion.
“We’re being very tough on Turkey and a lot of others,” Trump said.
Other leaders have called for tougher sanctions. Republican senator Lindsey Graham promised to introduce a bill to sanction Turkey for its military action in Syria. Sen. Graham said that Trump’s sanctions were not enough.
“I will be introducing sanctions against Turkey Thursday and I do appreciate what the administration has done against Turkey through executive action but more to follow,” Graham said.
The house speaker Nancy Pelosi had also said that Trump’s sanctions “fell short” and accused the president of betraying Kurdish fighters who were a major contributor to the defeat of ISIS1.
“… His announcement of a package of sanctions against Turkey falls very short of reversing that humanitarian disaster,” The speaker said in a statement.
“President Trump gave Turkey the green light to attack our Kurdish partners, betraying the thousands of fighters who gave their lives to keep the world safe from the barbarism of ISIS.”
Trump has faced bipartisan criticism over his decision to withdraw the troops from the region. Some had termed the move as undermining US position and giving Russia and Iran a strategic advantage in the region.
Turkey had moved into Syria after the US withdrew its troops from the cities previously held by ISIS fighters.
Syria has tried to deploy its troops in those regions to occupy the vacuum left by US troops as well as halt the Turkish invasion of Syria.
