Turkey rejects Trump offer to mediate between Turkey and Kurds

ISTANBUL ⁠— President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected a U.S. offer to mediate a cease-fire between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria and demanded Wednesday that the Kurds "drop their weapons" as the quickest way to halt the fighting.

The Turkish leader ordered Kurdish fighters to disarm and withdraw from designated border areas before nightfall Wednesday. Erdogan launched the offensive targeting Syrian Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria last week.

"The terrorists should drop their weapons and leave the area that we have identified as the safe zone," he said in a speech Wednesday to the Turkish parliament. He vowed to press forward with the campaign to rout Kurdish-led fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, from a wide swath of territory along the border.

Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were scheduled to travel Wednesday to Turkey as part of the administration's efforts to quell the chaos unleashed by the Turkish offensive ... (President Erdogan has said he will not meet with them)

https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/erdogan-orders-kurdish-fighters-in-syria-to-drop-weapons-withdraw-from-border-1.603253