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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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Erdogan - rt.com

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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Erdogan says U.S. funding of Syrian YPG will ... - reuters.com

Washington could soon receive the "Ottoman slap," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned, while also stating that all members of NATO are equal with the US.

While speaking to the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party in Ankara on Tuesday, Erdogan referenced a recent remark by Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk, the top US commander in the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), who said that Turkey would face a sharp response if it struck Manbij, Syria.

Those who say they will give a sharp response if hit, have clearly never got the Ottoman slap in their lives, Erdogan said, referring to a half-legendary Turkish martial move that involves a potent open-palm hit, resulting in a one-hit knockout or even skull fractures and death.

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Erdogan also addressed the NATO alliance, of which both Turkey and the US are members. "What kind of NATO membership is this? What kind of NATO alliance is this?" he asked. "As president of Turkey, [I say] NATO is not equal to the US, all countries [in the alliance] are equals to the US."

His remarks come at a time of increasingly strained relations between the US and Turkey. On Monday, Ankara sought clarity from the US while threatening to break ties. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusogli told journalists that his country sought "concrete steps" from Washington, adding that US actions are the reason for "missing trust" between the two NATO allies.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that Turkey had briefed the alliance about its operations in Syria's Afrin last week. He went on to express hope that such briefings would continue.

"Turkey has briefed NATO on the operation Olive Branch, they did so last week, and I have been in regular contact with the Turkish leadership, including with president Erdogan regarding the situation in Syria and the operation Olive Branch. I expect Turkey to continue to brief allies," Stoltenberg said.

The NATO secretary-general also acknowledged Turkey's "legitimate security concerns," and its right to address those concerns. "But they should do that in a proportionate and measured way," he said.

Turkeys officials, however, do not seem to be satisfied with the ambiguous statements from their NATO allies anymore. On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has harshly responded to a similar statement on understanding Ankaras legitimate security concerns produced by the US Defence Secretary James Mattis.

Our demands from the US are clear and have already been conveyed. We no longer want to hear about promises; we want to hear about concrete steps. Trust needs to be rebuilt so we can start to talk about some issues, Cavusoglu said on Monday.

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