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LONDON Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected U.S. calls for a cease-fire in the escalating Syria conflict ahead of a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, who is due to travel to Turkey on Wednesday.

The vice presidents office announced Tuesday that Pence would lead a U.S. delegation including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser Robert OBrien and the special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, to Ankara. The aim of the trip was to persuade Erdogan to stop his offensive into the region.

On Tuesday, Erdogan vowed that he would not declare a cease-fire in northeast Syria.

They say declare a cease-fire.' We will never declare a cease-fire, Erdogan told reporters after a visit to Azerbaijan.

They are pressuring us to stop the operation. They are announcing sanctions. Our goal is clear. We are not worried about any sanctions, he added.

Earlier, when asked by Sky News about meeting an American delegation, Erdogan said through a translator: "I'm not going to talk to them. They will be talking to their counterparts. When Trump comes here, I'll be talking."

Erdogan's communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said afterward that while Erdogan would not be meeting with a U.S. delegation in Ankara on Wednesday, he would meet Pence and Pompeo on Thursday.

It is unclear whether in his original comments, Erdogan meant he would refuse to meet with Pence.

Pence aims to convince the Turkish leader to agree an immediate cease-fire. He will also reiterate President Donald Trumps commitment to maintain economic sanctions on Turkey until a resolution is reached, the vice president's office said in a statement.

Erdogan told reporters in Parliament on Wednesday that he will evaluate whether to visit the U.S. next month after the meetings with the American delegation in Ankara this week, according to a translation by Reuters.

He said no power would be able to stop Turkeys offensive in Syria, which would come to an end when Turkey completes the formation of its safe zone that will run from Manbij in the west to the border with Iraq, a distance of approximately 260 miles, he added.

"For the quickest solution to the problem in Syria, we propose all terrorists to leave their weapons and equipment, destroy the traps they prepared and leave the safe zone tonight," he told reporters.

Reaching a resolution could be an uphill battle. Trump reiterated Tuesday that the United States was calling for a cease-fire and appeared to threaten even more sanctions if one could not be reached.

Massive tariffs on steel. They ship a lot of steel to the United States. They make a lot of money shipping steel. They won't be making so much money, he told reporters Tuesday in the White Houses Rose Garden.

We want to bring our soldiers back home after so many years, and they're the greatest warriors in the world. They're policing. They're not a police force, he added.

On Monday, Trump ordered new sanctions on Turkish government figures and any persons contributing to Turkeys destabilizing actions in northeast Syria.

Trump said he plans to hike tariffs on steel up to 50 percent and immediately halt trade negotiations with the country, specifically a $100 billion trade deal.

In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Erdogan said Operation Peace Spring, which launched Oct. 9, aimed to end the humanitarian crisis and address the violence and instability that are the root causes of irregular migration in our region.

Erdogan said the international community had not done enough to help Turkey with the millions of Syrian refugees the country took in.

Turkey reached its limit, he said.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had invited Erdogan to visit Russia in the coming days and that the Turkish president had accepted the invitation. Kurdish troops, whom Turkish-led forces are battling, have called on Damascus and Moscow to help repel the invading Turkish troops.

These diplomatic overtures came as Syrian regime forces continued to push north toward the Turkish border and the Syrian Democratic Forces and Turkish-led forces clashed in Ras al Ayn and Tel Helef, among other places, according to the SDF.

Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition of nations that are fighting the Islamic State militant group in the region, said all coalition troops had left the city of Manbij on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Russian military police were patrolling the northwestern borders of Manbij district along the line of contact of Syrian regime troops and Turkish forces.

Saphora Smith is a London-based reporter for NBC News Digital.

Aziz Akyavas , Emmanuelle Saliba and Hallie Jackson contributed.

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Erdogan rejects Syria cease-fire call ahead of Pence meeting

ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President Donald Trump that Turkey will never declare a ceasefire in northeastern Syria and that it will not negotiate with Kurdish forces it is fighting in its offensive into the region.

Turkey pressed ahead with its offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria on Tuesday despite U.S. sanctions and calls for it to stop, while Syrias Russia-backed army moved on the key city of Manbij that was abandoned by U.S. forces.

The YPG, the key component of the forces who fought Islamic State, is seen by Ankara as a terrorist group linked to Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.

On Monday, Trump announced sanctions on Turkey to punish it for the offensive. On Tuesday, a senior U.S. official said Washington would threaten more sanctions to persuade Turkey to reach a ceasefire and halt its offensive.

However, speaking to reporters on a flight back from Baku, Erdogan said the offensive would continue until it reaches its aims, and added that he was not worried about sanctions.

They say declare a ceasefire. We will never declare a ceasefire, Erdogan said. They are pressuring us to stop the operation. They are announcing sanctions. Our goal is clear. We are not worried about any sanctions, he said.

Erdogan said he told Trump in a phone call earlier this week that he should send a U.S. delegation to Ankara to discuss their demands and try to reach an agreement. The White House said on Tuesday that Vice President Mike Pence will meet with Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday.

Trumps decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria after a phone call with Erdogan not only cleared the way for the Turkish incursion, but it also gives a free hand to Washingtons adversaries in the worlds deadliest ongoing war, namely Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.

Syrian army deployments into Kurdish-held territory mark a victory for Assad and Russia, giving them a foothold in the biggest remaining swathe of Syria that had been beyond their grasp through much of its eight-year-old war.

Asked about the deployment of Syrian forces to the northern town of Manbij, Erdogan, who has backed Syrian rebels fighting to oust Assad, said he was not bothered.

The regime entering Manbij is not very negative for me. Why? Its their lands after all. But, what is important to me is that the terrorist organization does not remain there, Erdogan said, referring to the YPG.

I told this to Mr Putin as well. If you are clearing Manbij of terrorist organizations, then go ahead, you or the regime can provide all the logistics. But if you are not going to do this, the people there are telling us to save them, he added.

Erdogan also said that an attack from Manbij on Tuesday, which killed one Turkish soldier, was launched by the Syrian government, and that Turkey made the regime pay a heavy price in retaliation.

Separately, the Turkish presidency said late on Tuesday that Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that Turkeys operation would contribute to counter-terrorism efforts, Syrias territorial integrity, and a political solution process.

Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker

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Erdogan says Turkey will never declare ceasefire in northern ...

FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a joint press conference with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic after their meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkeys incursion into Syria will stretch from Kobani in the west to Hasaka in the east, going some 30 km (19 miles) into Syrian territory, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, and the town of Ras al Ain was already under Turkish control.

Addressing a news conference in Istanbul, Erdogan said the Turkish-led forces had also besieged the Syrian border town of Tel Abyad, west of Ras al Ain, in its fight against the YPG Kurdish militia, which Ankara says is a terrorist organization.

We focused first on the 120-km (75-mile) area between Ras al Ain and Tel Abyad. Thus we will divide the 480-km terrorist corridor down the middle, Erdogan said.

Then we will take control of Hasaka on the one side and Ain al Arab (Kobani) on the other and complete the operation, he said, referring to towns either side of the current focus of operations. We will go down to a depth of around 30-35 km, in line with the safe zone map which we declared previously.

Erdogan said two Turkish soldiers and 16 Turkey-backed Syrian rebels had been killed in the operation.

He added that Turkish-led forces had killed 440 fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in which the YPG comprises the main fighting element.

The Turkey-led forces have so far seized control of 109 square km (42 square miles), territory including 17 villages around Tel Abyad and four villages around Ras Al Ain, Erdogan said.

Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Mark Heinrich

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Erdogan says Turkish-led offensive to extend further along ...

President Trump prefers to use targeted economic weapons instead of the U.S. military forces against foreign adversaries. In keeping with this strategy President Trump is announcing a set of economic sanctions and tariffs against Turkey for their decision to cross into Syria and create a crisis amid all regional interests. (Source)

One of the reasons this strategy is better than any military action is simply because Turkey is a unique NATO ally, and the NATO alliance within Europe is insufferably incapable of taking action to defend their interests.

European NATO members want the benefits of a perpetual U.S. military presence. That EU outlook is simply beyond the limits of what President Trump is willing to do. President Trump wants to bring our troops home.

Youll notice the complete lack of action by the EU that would serve as a deterrent to President Erdogan of Turkey. All of the responsibility for counter-measures is being placed on the shoulder of Americans and the American taxpayer. The EU has not, is not and will not, lift a finger to impede the hostile activity by Turkey in Northern Syria.

Ultimately President Trump is highlighting the reason why the U.S. should withdraw from NATO by spotlighting the insufferable weakness of the assembly. NATO wont even vote to defend their own interests, so why should the U.S. be their crutch?

With Europe refusing to stand-up to defend their own interests, President Trump is removing U.S. forces from the untenable position of guarding all the big cat cages, ad infinitum, to keep the zoo status intact.

Instead, President Trump is going to support the Arab coalition and the GCC that has been assembling a military coalition to protect itself from the Muslim Brotherhood.

That is why President Trump is willing to support Saudi Arabia with more troops, while withdrawing from Syria where the U.S. was having to stand alone to protect the interests of Europeans who will not protect themselves.

In one regional area the U.S. will support and defend Israel, Egypt and Jordan. In the Southern region the U.S. will support the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain and Qatar).

Will political Islam likely have a resurgence in the region, and will Recep Erdogan rise as the head of the Ottoman Empire once again? The former is likely, the latter is unknown.

President Trump is correctly withdrawing U.S. troops from a position of adversarialism against a NATO member. Why should the U.S. protect the interests of allies who will not stand-up to protect themselves

President Trump is correct.

President Trump will use economic weapons against Turkey. And, in keeping with the doctrine, Europe better watch out. President Trump will likely use economic weapons against the EU for creating this mess and refusing to defend themselves.

President Trump will use military weapons to protect allies that are: (A) willing to protect themselves, and (B) willing to pay for the support of the U.S. military protection.

It is really a common sense doctrine Help those who help themselves.

These two tweets below really are the nub of it; and stunningly transparent. President Trump is letting it be well known that Turkey is on their own with this decision. Any entity who wants to assist Syria in defending the Kurds, and or repelling Turkey, is free to do so.

President Trump is leaving President Erdogan naked to his enemies.

There are many consequences possible.

This is one of those weird be careful what you wish for scenarios for President Erdogan, because in his lust to recreate the Ottoman Empire he just might get removed.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the extended meeting with provincial heads of ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in Ankara, Turkey, on October 10, 2019.

Adem Altan | AFP | Getty Images

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Europe with a flood of refugees on Thursday if the continent's leaders call the Turkish invasion of Syria an "occupation."

"We will open the gates and send 3.6 million refugees your way," Erdogan said while speaking to officials from his ruling AK Party, according to Reuters.

A Turkish offensive in northern Syria has been underway since Wednesday, with airstrikes and artillery fire targeting U.S.-allied Kurdish forces on the ground.

The operation began just days after President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement withdrawing U.S. troops from a part of Syria that had been reclaimed in a bloody and drawn-out war between the U.S.-led coalition and the so-called Islamic State. Trump framed his decision as one that would hand the responsibility of containing IS to the Turks.

And late Wednesday, he defended his decision to allow the Turkish offensive by saying the Kurds did not help the U.S. during World War II.

Ground fighting since 2014 against the extremist group was spearheaded by Kurdish forces that made up the bulk of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed organization now tasked with governance of the area and containment of resurgent IS fighters and overcrowded IS prisons. In particular instances, when asked for help in the anti-IS fight, Turkey refused to help the Kurdish forces, which it sees as allies to dissident Kurds in his country.

Erdogan has pledged to clear the area of "terrorists," and says his aim is to allow a path for the return of Syrian refugees in Turkey to go back home. Numerous U.S. officials have cast doubt on that promise.

Ankara has long vowed to wipe out the Kurdish militia presence along its border in northern Syria, which it views as a security threat and indistinguishable from a separate Kurdish terrorist group that is waging a counterinsurgency inside Turkey.

The Turkish military confirmed Wednesday it had "launched the land operation into the east of the Euphrates River" and said it had hit more than 100 "militant targets."

"The operation is currently continuing with the involvement of all our units. ... One-hundred-nine terrorists have been killed so far," Erdogan said, without specifying whether this meant IS fighters or the Kurdish militia members Ankara also calls terrorists.

Activists on the ground say at least seven civilians have been killed. Video footage showed civilians trying to flee as dark plumes of smoke rose on the horizon.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed concern on Wednesday over the offensive.

"Turkey has security concerns at its border with Syria, that we must understand. However, I call on Turkey, as well as other actors, to act with restraint," Juncker told the EU Parliament.

A spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the British government had "grave concern," and "we do not support the action" by Turkey. EU diplomats have warned of a fresh humanitarian crisis and a setback in the effort to counter and contain IS.

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, with 3.6 million registered Syrian nationals in 2018 and 40,000 refugees and asylum-seekers of other nationalities, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

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Turkey's Erdogan threatens to release millions of refugees ...