Obama calls on Turkey, Kurdish YPG to show reciprocal restraintFebruary 20, 2016 - 10:27 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday, February 19 urged the Ankara government and Kurdish YPG forces to "show reciprocal restraint" in northern Syria, AFP reports. "President Obama stressed that YPG forces should not seek to exploit circumstances in this area to seize additional territory, and urged Turkey to show reciprocal restraint by ceasing artillery strikes in the area," a White House statement said. Meanwhile, Turkey's presidency said Obama had shared his concerns over the Syrian conflict and promised his support. In the phone conversation that lasted one hour and 20 minutes, Ankara said Obama had told Erdogan that Turkey “had a right to self-defense, and expressed worries over advances by Syrian Kurdish militias near Turkey's border.” Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |