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Her Turkish flag is in her pocket, Mr. Erdogan proclaimed after calling Amine onstage. If she becomes a martyr, God willing, she will be wrapped with it, he said. She is ready for everything, arent you?

Mr. Erdogan has dispatched Turkish forces to the border area of Syria to battle Kurdish militias he considers Turkeys enemies, and has been rallying his country for the fight including in daily public speeches.

The girl, according to Turkish news agency reports, had been attending the provincial congress of Mr. Erdogans Justice and Development Party in a military-style uniform on Saturday.

The Maroon Berets are fighting in Afrin, a Syrian enclave the Turks are trying to take from the Kurds, and when the president noticed the girls beret, he called her to the stage.

Look, look, look, what is there? Girl, what are you doing there? he called out. She held her salute, but her face began to crumple in anxiety as she was lifted out of the crowd to meet the president. Here are our Maroon Berets. Look, we have our own Maroon Berets, Mr. Erdogan said as she crossed the stage.

Mr. Erdogan kissed her on both cheeks, but by then she was in tears.

But Maroon Berets dont cry, the president said.

Amid the applause, supporters in the audience chanted: Chief, take us to Afrin, news agencies reported. Mr. Erdogan thanked the volunteers but said the Turkish Army had professional soldiers to do the job.

Turkey has a longstanding culture of nationalist militarism, with popular slogans such as Every Turk born a soldier. Since the Afrin operation began last month, the government has mounted a national campaign in support of the war, with billboards and banners praising the armed forces and saluting those fallen in battle, who are accorded the honor of martyrs.

Mr. Erdogan recently made an alliance with the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party to bolster his chances for coming elections and has used the military campaign to improve his stance with nationalists.

He makes public speeches every day and sometimes several times a day, peppering his speeches with nationalist and anti-Western jibes as well as poetry and religious sayings, conjuring glories of Turkish history. He vows to protect Turkeys borders and to fight terrorism, and rallies popular support for the war, listing the number of enemies killed and commending the nations martyrs.

Mr. Erdogans remarks to the girl on Saturday drew criticism from some on social media, who felt that the talk of martyrdom was inappropriate for a child so young. Oh my God, I am shocked. Could Erdogan have said the same thing for his grandchild? one user wrote on Twitter.

The mainstream press, which has been increasingly under the thumb of the government, did not focus on the girls tears. Many newspapers showed images of Mr. Erdogan with Amine under his arm. One had the headline, She is ready for anything. Other news agencies reported that Mr. Erdogan had consoled the girl as she cried.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the status of a 6-year-old girl who appeared onstage with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. She wore a military-style uniform, but is not a cadet.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shakes hands with US President Donald Trump as they give statements to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, US May 16, 2017. .(photo credit: REUTERS)

ISTANBUL - Turkey told US President Donald Trump on Thursday he could not buy its support in a United Nations vote on Jerusalem, and said the world should teach the United States a "very good lesson" by resisting US pressure.

Trump has threatened to cut aid to countries that support a draft UN resolution calling for the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara UN member states should not let their decision in Thursday's vote at the UN General Assembly be dictated by money.

"Mr. Trump, you cannot buy Turkey's democratic will with your dollars," he said. "The dollars will come back, but your will won't once it's sold. That is why your stance is important."

Trump's announcement two weeks ago that he was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital broke with decades of US policy and international consensus that the city's status must be left to Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Last week, Erdogan hosted a special meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, which condemned Trump's decision and called on the world to respond by recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in an action not recognized internationally.

Trump's Jerusalem move led to harsh criticisms from Muslim countries and Israel's closest European allies, who have also rejected the move.

A draft resolution calling for withdrawal of Trump's decision was vetoed at the United Nations Security Council by the United States on Monday. Following that vote, opponents of the US decision called for the vote in the General Assembly.

"I hope and expect the United States won't get the result it expects from there and the world will give a very good lesson to the United States," Erdogan said.

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Published time: 20 Feb, 2018 09:20 Edited time: 22 Feb, 2018 07:17

Turkish troops will encircle the Kurdish-held Syrian city of Afrin in the coming days, effectively starting its siege, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told ruling party MPs, local media reported.

Speaking to members of the ruling Justice and Development Partys (AKP) on Tuesday, Erdogan said the city center of Afrin will soon be besieged by advancing Turkish troops and allied Syrian militias, according to Hurriyet.

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Preparations in the field take some time. In the coming days, we will lay siege to Afrin city; its very important that everywhere we go should remain secure, Erdogan said, as cited by Hurriyet. He added: Thanks to the siege, the YPG will have no room for bargaining with the Syrian regime.

Erdogans statement comes as Turkish troops are advancing towards Afrin, liberating village after village. The offensive, codenamed Operation Olive Branch, was launched in January this year with the stated goal of driving the Kurdish YPG militia group deemed a terrorist organization in Turkey out of the area.

On Tuesday morning, the Turkish military said the troops had neutralized 74 Kurdish and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fighters, increasing the number of slain militants to 1,715.

The ground operation, supported by air- and ground-based fire support assets, continues successfully as planned, it added.

Earlier this week, media reports emerged suggesting an agreement has been reached between the local Kurdish administration and Damascus, under which Syrian pro-government forces would be allowed to enter the area. On Monday, Syrian media reported that government troops would arrive in Afrin within hours.

However, no official confirmation of the news has been announced, with Kurdish officials denying that such an agreement exists.There is no agreement; there is only a call from us for the Syrian army to come in and protect the borders, YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud told Reuters by phone on Monday.

Ankara has threatened to confront Syrian forces if they come to the aid of the Kurds, and also dismissed reports on the Kurdish-Syrian deal.

READ MORE:Erdogan: Turkeys Syria op will move to Idlib after mission completed in Afrin

If the regime enters [Afrin] to clear out the YPG, then there is no problem, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday, as cited by state news agency Anadolu. However, he added: If they are entering [Afrin] to provide protection to the YPG, then no one can stop Turkey or Turkish soldiers.

Meanwhile, experts say Syrian leader Bashar Assad and his government are now playing a key role in stabilizing the situation in and around Afrin. It is ironic because both the Kurds and the Turks at different times stated their absolute condemnation of the Syrian government and unwillingness to deal with President Assad or his government, Danny Makki, Syria commentator, told RT.

Now both regional actors are looking at Assad as some sort of peacemaker, Makki said. While Turkey, which is losing soldiers and armor, is desperate to end the fighting, the Kurds would prefer to do a deal with Damascus rather than make one with the Turks on very weak terms, he suggested.

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Shortly before Christmas, a highly controversial deal was struck in Khartoum between President Omar al-Bashir and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey was given exclusive rights to rehabilitate the port island of Suakin in northeastern Sudan, with docking rights for Turkish civilian and military vessels on the west coast of the Red Sea.

The former Ottoman port once served as a transit destination for Muslim pilgrims crossing the Red Sea to Mecca, a role that Erdogan hopes to restore under the direct supervision of the Turkish Army.

At first glance, this seems like yet another attempt by Erdogan to reach out to former Ottoman colonies, given his obsession with Turkeys Ottoman past. For the last 15 years, Erdogan has spared no effort at peddling what was often described as neo-Ottomanism, a revival of the intellectual, political, economic and military influence of the former Ottoman Empire throughout the Muslim world.

Aerial view of Suakin Island in 1930 with Condensor Island in the foreground and El Gerf with its enclosing defenses behind. Photo: http://www.thearchitecturestore.co.uk

The now abandoned Sudanese island was once the military headquarters of Ottoman Sultan Selim I, back in 1517. The Ottomans were forced to relinquish it to British colonialists, who set up their own base in 1883-1885. It suffered a long march into history after Port Sudan was established in 1922, and by 1939 Suakin had been all but deserted left to crumble and rot until Erdogan came along in 2017 promising to put it into use once again.

The agreement to revamp Suakin is part of a broader deal between Erdogan and Bashir, estimated at US$650 million, which involves building a new airport at Khartoum and investing in Sudanese cotton production, electricity generation, and grain silos.

Saudi Arabia is furious about the deal, and with good reason. First, it brings Turkish troops dangerously close to Saudi territory, given the Sudanese islands proximity to theport city of Jeddah. Second, Riyadh believes that Erdogan doesnt have the money to pursue such an ambitious program in Sudan, arguing that he will use Qatari funds to expand into Arab territories.

In other words, they believe Suakin is actually being handed over to the Qataris, rather than the Turks. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been at daggers-end since last June, over Dohas alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood and its open support of Iran.

Seven years ago, Saudi Arabia and Turkey found themselves on the same side of the Syrian conflict, both committed to regime change in Damascus, but more recently they parted ways over Turkeys blatant support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, after they were ejected from power via Abdel Fattah Sisis coup in the summer of 2013.The Saudis were already furious with Turkeys warming relations with Tehran, and expected Erdogan to support their standoff with Qatar, especially after setting a long list of demands that Doha was asked to accept. They included changing editorial policy of the Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV and expelling the Muslim Brotherhood from Qatar.

But rather than apply pressure on Doha, Erdogan chose to back the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in his feud with King Salman, breaking the Saudi-imposed embargo by allowing Qatari flights into Ankara and sending 5,000 Turkish troops to Doha in order to deter any Saudi adventurism in regard to its gas-rich tiny neighbor.

The Halaib Triangle is seen on the Egypt/Sudan border with Port Sudan and Suakin below. Graphic: Wikipedia/Asia Times

Egypt is equally upset with Turkeys new base on the Red Sea. Cairo feels that Erdogans port in Sudan might awaken Khartoums ambitions over the Halaib Triangle on the Red Sea. For more than 60 years, Egypt and Sudan have quarreled over the disputed territory, which both claim to have sovereignty over. In the 1990s, Egypt deployed troops to the Halaib Triangle, hoping this would put an end to Sudanese claims.

But with Turkish military support, Omar al-Bashir might reconsider his dtente with Cairo over the Triangle. That, of course, follows the souring of ties between Cairo and Ankara over Erdogans support for former Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, now in an Egyptian jail.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kisses a little girl on the cheek as he walks with the President of Sudan Omar Al-Bashir during his visit in Port Sudan on December 25, 2017. Erdogan toured Suakin Island on the second day of his visit. Photo: AFP/ Anadolu/ Kayhan Ozer

Other countries are watching Erdogans ambitious undertakings with alarm. In the three years since the start of the Saudi-led war on Houthi militants in Yemen a race has been underway for security bases and pockets of economic and political influence along the Red Sea, especially after Iran took the port of Al Hudaydah in Yemen, via the Houthis, which spread terror throughout the Gulf. From there, they threaten to meddle further in the affairs of the Gulf states, namely Saudi Arabia.

Last February, the Emirates set up their own base in the port of Berbera in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, two years after building a naval base in Eritrea. Both have been vital for the Saudi war on the Houthis. In October, Erdogan erected his own base in Somalia, after China established one for its navy in Djibouti.

Elsewhere along the Red Sea, Jordan still controls the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt still manages the Gulf of Suez, while the Riyadh-backed Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi remains in control of Bab al-Mandab and Aden, all aimed at blocking further Iranian advances.

This wide assortment of overseas bases is a novelty in international affairs.Throughout the Cold War, only the US and Russia had this sort of military influence outside their geographic boundaries. Countries like China and the UAE never thought of expanding militarily in such a manner.

Turkey and Iran, however, always had that ambition and were constantly in search of re-entering former colonies or satellite states. Interestingly, while Iran, Turkey, China and the UAE are all trying to cement their influence on the Red Sea, the Russians have no permanent presence there, and the Americans whose ships sail through the sea on a daily basis have a base just south in Djibouti. They are not anchored in the Red Sea the Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf and the SixthFleet is in Naples in the Mediterranean, leaving that stretch of territory open for other countries to covet and occupy if they dare.

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ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A U.S. decision to continue funding the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia will affect Turkeys future moves, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday ahead of a visit this week by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

U.S. officials have said that Tillerson expects to have difficult conversations when he visits Turkey on Thursday and Friday, given that the NATO allies have starkly diverging interests in Syria. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tillersons trip showed just how serious this matter is.

This is one of the areas of deep, deep concern on the part of the administration and the U.S. government, she told a briefing on Tuesday. We certainly dont want to see ... violence further escalate.

Turkey has been enraged by U.S. support for the YPG, which Ankara sees as a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has been waging an insurgency on Turkish soil for over 30 years. Washington has backed the YPG in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

Our allys decision to give financial support to the YPG ... will surely affect the decisions we will take, Erdogan said in a speech to members of his AK Party in parliament.

His comments followed the release of the U.S. Defense Departments 2019 budget, which includes requests for funds to train and equip local forces in the campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria.

The Pentagon requested $300 million for Syrian train and equip activities and $250 million for border security requirements, according to a copy of the budget. While it did not specify how much of this, if any, was earmarked for YPG-led forces, Turkish media interpreted it to mean that the Pentagon had allocated $550 million to the YPG in 2019.

It will be better for them not to stand with the terrorists they support today. I am calling on the people of the United States - this money is coming out of the budget of the United States, it is coming out of peoples pockets, Erdogan said.

Turkey last month launched a military incursion, dubbed Operation Olive Branch, into the Kurdish-held Afrin region of Syria to sweep the YPG away from its southern border. It has also threatened to press on to the Syrian town of Manbij, under the control of a YPG-led force, and warned U.S. troops stationed there not to get in the way.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said his Turkish counterpart Nurettin Canikli had attended a meeting in Rome on Tuesday to discuss strategy against Islamic State.

On Afrin, we all spoke with the Turkish minister of defense today. He laid out the rationale, we laid out the rationale for working this to a solution that took into account Turkeys legitimate security concerns and well still work it, Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Brussels.

He said he would meet with his Turkish counterpart later this week during a NATO gathering.

Washington says it has no plans to withdraw its soldiers from Manbij and two U.S. commanders visited the town last week to reinforce that message.

It is very clear that those who say we will respond aggressively if you hit us have never experienced an Ottoman slap, Erdogan said in parliament.

That was an apparent reference to comments made by U.S. Lieutenant General Paul Funk during a visit to Manbij.

Additional reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Idrees Ali and David Alexander; writing by David Dolan; editing by Dominic Evans and Mark Heinrich

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