When Vice President Mike Pence left for Turkey on October 16, not many people in the White House believed the trip would be successful.

US President Donald Trump sent Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Ankara to try to persuade Turkey to cease fire with the Kurdish militia (YPG) in Syria, even though only a few hours earlier he declared that it was not his responsibility. of Washington.

US national security adviser Robert O'Brien and Syrian special envoy to Syria Jim Jeffrey arrived in Ankara the day before. O'Brien and Jeffrey spent hours drafting a deal with the Turks, then exchanged views with Pence and Pompeo in the four-party phone call the next morning. The terms were completed on October 17.

Additional sanctions are also taken into account. Trump on October 7 threatened to "completely obliterate" Turkey's economy if it took any wrong actions. In a letter on Oct. 9, the White House boss also warned his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan "not to be fooled". However, Trump's letter was not mentioned during 9 hours of negotiations between the US and Turkey delegation, an unnamed senior official said.

The first meeting between Pence and Erdogan on general issues is expected to take only 10 minutes. The Vice President of the United States kept his stern look before this meeting. "He understood the importance of that time," an unnamed assistant said.

Each party has an interpreter. However, instead of choosing someone among the interpreters who traveled more than 11,000 km from the US to Turkey, Pence brought special envoy Jeffrey, who served as the US ambassador to Turkey, into the meeting room. A source said Pence chose Jeffrey because Erdogan was accompanied by his national security adviser, who is fluent in English.

Instead of 10 minutes as expected, this meeting lasted 80 minutes when Pence tried to persuade Turkish officials to agree to a ceasefire. According to an unnamed senior official, the US Vice President saw a critical turning point in the negotiation process when Erdogan asked how long it would take to repel the Kurds. For Pence, this is a sign that the "door" leads to a ceasefire.

The press is not allowed to access the meeting. Reporters who followed Pence and Pompeo were taken to a ballroom for tea and coffee while the two delegations negotiated for hours. After that, they were suddenly urged to move quickly into a large room, where the two delegations sat around the wooden table, allowed to ask questions for 30 seconds, but no leader answered.

The meeting room door once again closed. In the middle of the second session, Pence offered to suspend the discussion when a Turkish official mentioned the civilian population killed by the conflict.

The vice president seemed to want to show sympathy when he said the US delegation also had veterans, adding that his son Michael Pence was serving in the armed forces, then offered his condolences to Turkey because of the dead and their families.

Pence stated that if Ankara agreed to a cease-fire, Trump would not impose any further sanctions on Turkey, and accept the withdrawal of the sanctions signed on October 14 if Ankara ceased permanently.

A temporary ceasefire is an important part of the negotiations, a source said. Pence and Erdogan spent a great deal of time negotiating this clause. The final decision was made 120 hours, about the amount of time the US considered to be enough for the Kurdish militia to withdraw from the buffer zone without being attacked.

US officials also kept in touch with YPG members during the talks to consult with them about logistics, such as where the YPG could retreat, and asked them to stop firing artillery on Turkish forces. States.

After 9 hours of negotiation, Pence announced a ceasefire was reached between Turkey and the Kurds in a late press conference on October 17 at the US embassy block in Ankara.

The US vice president said military operations in northeastern Syria would stop in five days. In the meantime, the United States will assist the Kurdish militia in withdrawing from affected areas in the Turkish "controlled buffer zone". Pence added that he was dispatched to "prevent violence" and has achieved his goal.

Turkish and Kurdish controlled areas in northeastern Syria. Click on the image to see details. Graphics: CBS.

Pence's negotiating effort comes after the White House was heavily criticized for Trump's decision to withdraw troops from northeastern Syria, a move considered to have abandoned Kurds, Washington's allies in the fight against terrorism. father. Some unnamed officials admitted they did not expect much for Pence and Pompeo's trip. Therefore, the results raised aroused many doubts.

Immediately after Pence's speech, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the two delegations did not agree to a ceasefire, but to suspend military operations. According to an unnamed senior US official, the Turks don't want to use the word "ceasefire", but that doesn't mean they don't approve of this.

Few think Ankara has made any real commitments. "Basically, the United States is agreeing with Turkey's actions, allowing them to annex part of Syria and replace the Kurds," a senior US official knowledgeable in Syria said.

"This is what Turkey wants. I think one of the reasons for Ankara to agree with the agreement is that the Kurds have strongly protested, making it impossible for them to march further south. If the US doesn't impose sanctions, Turkey will win big, "the official added.

Even many officials close to Trump, including Senator Lindsey Graham, vehemently criticized the President's decision to withdraw troops from Syria. He accused Trump of posing a serious threat to national security and was responsible if the Islamic State (IS) rebels self-proclaimed. Trump dismissed criticism and said that Graham should "focus on the judiciary" instead of worrying about the Middle East.

Graham expressed hope on the outcome of Pence's negotiations, but said he did not know the details of the agreement. The senator intends to continue pushing Turkey's sanctions bill, hoping to maintain pressure on Ankara until a final agreement is signed.

During the flight back to Washington, Pence phoned a number of Republican and Democratic MPs to make sure of the situation. An unnamed official said the US vice president is likely to talk to the chairman of congressional committees regarding the issue.