Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited US President Donald Trump to visit Turkey in 2019, a White House spokesman said on Monday, according to Reuters.
“While nothing definite is being planned, the President is open to a potential meeting in the future,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.
News of Erdogan’s invitation comes hours after Trump said he believed the Turkish president is the right person to finish eradicating the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria as the US withdraws its forces from the country.
“President Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria....and he is a man who can do it plus, Turkey is right ‘next door.’ Our troops are coming home!” Trump tweeted.
On Sunday, CNN provided details of a phone call between Trump and Erdogan, following which Trump announced the Syria withdrawal.
A senior administration official who received a detailed readout of the phone call between Trump and Erdogan told the network that Erdogan was explaining all the problems with the US presence in Iraq and Syria and was irritating Trump.
According to the source, Trump said, "OK, it's all yours. We are done."
Trump on Friday defended his decision to withdraw troops from Syria which, tweeting, “I’ve done more damage to ISIS than all recent presidents....not even close!”
On Saturday, Trump issued another tweet explaining his Syrian withdrawal strategy.
"On Syria, we were originally going to be there for three months," Trump wrote. "And that was seven years ago - we never left.”
"When I became President, ISIS was going wild. Now ISIS is largely defeated and other local countries, including Turkey, should be able to easily take care of whatever remains. We’re coming home!" he added.