Obama to meet Erdogan, maybe Putin at G20

President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet this week, Obama’s deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes announced Monday, amid tensions about Turkey’s ongoing Operation Euphrates Shield which was targeting Syrian Kurds instead of ISIS. 

The meeting Sunday will take place before the G20 summit in China. It comes as the US has urged Turkey to focus its efforts in Syria on ISIL, and to avoid engaging with the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Washington’s principal partner in Syria. They will also discuss Syria and responses to the refugee crisis. Asked about a possible Obama summit with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday night that nothing had so far been arranged.