(Photo: AP)

Washington (People’s Daily) -- US President Trump says he is lifting all sanctions against Turkey after being assured that Turkey is permanently halting an offensive in northern Syria as part of a deal brokered with Russia. Trump cast the announcement as a triumph of diplomacy.

“Over the last five days, you have seen that a cease-fire that we established along Syria’s border has held and has held very well,” Trump said from the diplomatic room at the White House, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the White House national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. All three went to Ankara, the Turkish capital, last week to negotiate a pause in the fighting between Turkish forces and the Kurds.

Trump said the Turkish government informed his administration Wednesday that it is stopping combat and making the cease-fire permanent, adding, “And it will indeed be permanent.” “So the sanctions will be lifted unless something happens that we are not happy with,” Trump said. He also sent a message that he intends to keep a small number of US troops in northern Syria to protect the oil fields but didn’t provide details. “When we commit American troops to battle, we must do so only when a vital national interest is at stake,” he said.

The US Treasury Department said on Wednesday that it was removing the sanctions that it imposed earlier this month on Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, along with the minister of national defense, minister of energy and natural resources, and minister of the interior. However, the statement did not mention the increased tariffs that Trump imposed on Turkish steel rise to 50 percent from 25 percent.

Last week, the US and Turkey negotiated a cease-fire in the fighting and established a safe zone between Turkish forces and the Kurds. But on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia committed his military to joint security patrols with Turkish forces to enforce the cease-fire in northern Syria. Under that cease-fire, Russian forces will help move Kurdish fighters out of a much larger safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border.