Trump meets with Turkish President Erdogan, no breakthrough on mounting differences

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday told Turkish PresidentRecepTayyip Erdogan that his country's purchase of a Russian missile defence system was a "very serious challenge" for the United States but that he hoped the NATO allies would be able to resolve that dispute.

After a much anticipated meeting at the White House to address a crisis in relations, Trump said he was "a great fan" of the Turkish leader and that they had a "wonderful and productive" encounter. They did not, however, reveal any major breakthrough on mounting differences, from Syria to the Russian system known as S-400.

Still, Trump's warm welcome for Erdoganwas a sharp contrast to anger in the U.S. Congress over Turkey's offensive into Syria to drive out a Kurdish militia, Washington's main partner in the fight against the group Islamic State inIraq and Syria (ISIS).

Erdogansaid thatin six months to two years, Turkey could repatriate about 1 million refugees now in Turkey into a safe zone established in northern Syria. The zone was establishedafter Turkey launcheda military offensive into Syria on Oct. 9 with the intent of clearing the area of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters seen byErdogan as a threat.

The Turkishgovernment also hopes to resettle about 2 million of the 3.6 million Syrian war refugees.

Erdogan says he hopes to attract international donors to assist. He says the 1 million refugees could be repatriated to cities like Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, the largest city in eastern Syria.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump brought in five Republican senators to the White House to speak with Erdogan about the Syrian Kurds and the delivery of S-400s, which prompted Washington to remove Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program, in which Turkeywas a manufacturer and buyer.

"Turkey's acquisition of sophisticated Russian military equipment, such as the S-400, creates some very serious challenges for us and we are talking about it constantly," Trump told a joint news conference.

"We talked about it today, we're talking about it in the future, [and] hopefully we'll be able to resolve that situation."

Erdogan saidthe two countries could only overcome their dispute on the S-400s and F-35s through dialogue.

The NATO allies, who boast the two largest armies in the alliance, have been at loggerheads for months now and their ties hit a new crisis point last month when Erdogan began his cross-border incursion against America's Kurdish allies in Syria and upended the U.S. presence there.

Turkey shrugged off threats of U.S. sanctions and began receiving its first S-400 deliveries in July, but so far, the United States has not imposed any sanctions.

Recognizing Armeniangenocide a sore point

In the news conference, Erdogan was critical of the U.S. Congress, particularly of a House of Representatives vote last month in favourof a non-binding resolution recognizing the killings of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago as a genocide, a symbolic but historic vote denounced by Turkey.

Turkey's president saidhis country was "hurt deeply" by the House resolution and that the measure has the potential to cast a "deep shadow over our bilateral relations."

Erdogan saiddecision-makers about an event 104 years ago should be historians, not politicians.

Trump also addressed questionsabout the first of a seriesof public impeachment hearingsheld Wednesday, calling the testimonies a "sham" and that the proceedings were being "played as a hoax."

"I haven't watched for one minute because I've been with the [Turkish] president, which is much more important as far as I'm concerned," Trump told reporters.

The U.S. president also said he will be releasing on Thursday the transcript of a second call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"That this country gets put through this [impeachment], that we have to waste [Erdogan's] time by even talking about it, thinking about it. I'd much rather focus on peacein the Middle East," he concluded.