Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara will establish a 30-kilometre safe zone inside northern Syria following a "historic" agreement with his US peer Donald Trump.
Mr Erdogan's speech to parliament comes one day after he spoke with Mr Trump over the phone, in what seemed an effort to douse tensions after the American leader threatened Ankara with economic ruin if it attacked Kurdish groups in Syria.
The Turkish leader said he held a "quite positive" telephone conversation with Mr Trump late on Monday, where he reaffirmed that "a 20-mile (30km) security zone along the Syrian border... will be set up by us."
Since early in the conflict, Ankara has called for a safe area backed up by a no-fly zone on its border with Syria to protect civilians from air and ground attacks.
But the support for the proposal has waned ever since.
Mr Erdogan on Tuesday said that the plan could be revived if Washington provides logistics and financial support.
"We could create such a safe zone if coalition forces especially America provide logistical and financial support," Mr Erdogan said.
"That would also entirely prevent an influx (of refugees)."
The Turkish leader dismissed any presence of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in that zone.
Commenting on Mr Trump's tweet on Sunday that the US would "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds", Mr Erdogan said the remark "saddened me and my friends", but added that the two leaders reached an agreement during Monday's phone conversation.
"We have reached an agreement of understanding that is of historic importance," he said.
Mr Erdogan said Turkey would solve issues with a "spirit of alliance" with Mr Trump as long as his country's sensitivities were taken into account.
Mr Trump on Monday said that he spoke to Mr Erdogan to advise him on where the US stands on issues including battles against ISIS, the establishment of a 30-km safe zone and economic development between the US and Turkey.
However, the American president stuck to his emphasis on protecting Washington's Kurdish partners in the battles against ISIS, despite Mr Erdogan's known objection to such protection guarantees.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement after the call that "the president expressed the desire to work together to address Turkey’s security concerns in northeast Syria while stressing the importance to the United States that Turkey does not mistreat the Kurds and other Syrian Democratic Forces with whom we have fought to defeat ISIS."
Mr Trump gave no details about the safe zone proposal, but members of his administration said that Washington wanted to provide security for those who have fought ISIS and to prevent any attack on Turkey from Syria.
"If we can get the space and the security arrangements right it would be a good thing for everyone in the region," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday, while on a tour of the Middle East.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that Ankara was not against the idea of a secure zone along the border.
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Read more:
Turkey says it won't be intimidated by US threats
Donald Trump is willing to play 'hardball' with Ankara over Syrian Kurds
Mike Pompeo's Cairo speech drives home Iran as 'common enemy' message
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Tensions between Ankara and Washington have soured over threats by Mr Erdogan to attack territory controlled by US-backed Kurdish groups in Syria.
Turkey views the YPG – Washington’s primary partner in the battle against ISIS in Syria– as a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organisation by both Turkey and the US.
Mr Erdogan has signalled that a cross-border operation against the YPG in northeastern Syria will happen soon. Ankara has carried out two military campaigns in northern Syria against ISIS and the YPG since 2016.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin addressed Mr Trump on Twitter saying that “terrorists can’t be your partners & allies. Turkey expects the US to honour our strategic partnership and doesn’t want it to be shadowed by terrorist propaganda.”
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
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The biog
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Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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