On 25 January, the HRVP Mogherini met in Brussels with Turkish EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik. The meeting took place after the HRVP voiced concern that the Operation Olive Branch, the cross-border offensive launched by the Turkish military on 20 January to oust the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from their Afrin enclave in northern Syria, may undermine the peace talks on Syria in Geneva and lead to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation on the ground. During the meeting Mogherini and Celik discussed EU-Turkey relations and the latest developments in the region, notably the conflict in Syria and the recent Turkish offensive in Afrin. The EU reiterated its commitment to open channels of communication with Turkey through different high level political dialogues, including on foreign policy and sectoral cooperation.