Tom Barak, U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye: Donald Trump, the U.S. president, asked in a public gathering of President Erdoğan: “Why didn’t you occupy Syria? If you had an important role in helping them, why didn’t you occupy it?”

President Erdoğan, in response, said: “Because we don’t want to. We want Syria to be an independent, sovereign country, like a painting canvas and a blanket in a very difficult region.”