US not united over Syria troop pullout – Erdogan

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the Trump administration did not appear to portray a united stance on its withdrawal of the US forces from Syria.   

In a televised interview, Erdogan praised a recent trilateral summit held in the Russian resort city of Sochi with the leaders of Russia and Iran, saying it was "very productive and useful."   

He added that the next Sochi summit on Syria would be held in Turkey.   

In December, Trump made a surprise announcement that the US would be withdrawing all troops from Syria, and said Daesh had been defeated in the country.    

Since then, no troops have been withdrawn, however, last month the Pentagon confirmed additional troops were being sent to protect American forces and equipment as they prepare to leave.  

Khashoggi case

Erdogan urged the US to put its weight behind the investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and not to set the matter aside because of its ties with Riyadh.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of Saudi operatives on October 2, provoking international revulsion.

"The United States needs to put its presence, its weight here," Erdogan told broadcaster A Haber in an interview. 

The CIA has assessed it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Riyadh denies the prince had any involvement.

President Donald Trump has cited weapons sales to Saudi Arabia as an important source of US jobs and has stood by the crown prince. He is also reluctant to disturb the strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Erdogan also said that Turkey was determined to take the investigation to an international court, adding that Ankara would deliver all documents and information regarding the case to the authorities that would carry out the trial.

A UN-led inquiry into Khashoggi's murder said earlier this month that evidence pointed to a brutal crime "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials.

After making numerous contradictory statements about Khashoggi's fate, Riyadh said he had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.

Purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence system

Turkey will not turn back from its deal to buy S-400 missile systems from Russia, President Erdogan said, a day after an informal deadline Washington set for Ankara to respond to a rival offer to buy the US-made Patriot missile defence system passed.

"We made the S-400 deal with Russia, so it out of the question for us to turn back. That's done," Erdogan said.

He said Turkey was open to purchasing Patriot systems from the United States as long as the deal served Turkey's interests, but added there were issues on delivery and production that were still being discussed with Washington.

"The US administration views the early delivery issue positively, but they won't say anything about joint production or a credit. We continue our work based on the promise of the S-400 deliveries in July."

Turkey's EU membership bid

On the relationships with the European Union, Erdogan said the block has never been fair to Turkey.

“The only reason why the EU does not accept Turkey's accession is that we are a Muslim country. An official actually confessed about this." said Erdogan.

He said EU officials have been excusing Turkey’s population is too high to become a member state, but real cause was different. 

Turkey's formal accession talks to the European Union started in 2005. 

Since then, the process has continued with ups and downs. During the refugee deal talks, it experienced the biggest rise in history. Turkish PM was invited to the EU summits in Brussels, for the first time since 2005.

As a candidate country, Turkey has to successfully conclude negotiations with the EU in 35 chapters in various policy areas, which involve reforms and adaptation of European standards for its EU membership.

The visa-liberalisation process stopped due to the problems with the amendment on anti-terror law. And Turkey's EU accession talks have dramatically lost their momentum.