Mr. Jeffrey, a former ambassador to Turkey who served as Mr. Pence’s interpreter in the meetings, would have been familiar with the Erdogan playbook, experts in the region said. “Jim’s got good Turkish,” Mr. Edelman said. “He would have told Pence, ‘This is what you’re in for.’”
One thing that did not make the grievance list — Mr. Trump’s letter on Oct. 9, in which he implored of him, “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” and expressed enthusiasm to “work out a good deal!” Administration officials said Mr. Erdogan never brought up the letter, which he reportedly threw in the trash after reading it.
After five hours of meetings, Mr. Pence left the presidential complex for the American ambassador’s residence, where he announced the cease-fire and a “solution we believe will save lives.” But Mr. Trump pre-empted him. “Great news out of Turkey,” he tweeted just before Mr. Pence’s news conference began, insisting with little evidence that “Millions of lives will be saved!”
On the plane on the way home, Mr. Pence made calls to lawmakers in both parties. Privately, they expressed support for his mission. But publicly, he was met with deep skepticism from the administration’s Republican allies.
In a statement, Senator Lindsey Graham called a military occupation that displaces hundreds of thousands of Kurds an “ethnic cleansing.” He said that he spoke with Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria, and shared his concerns about “the cease-fire holding.”
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, said on the Senate floor Thursday that what Mr. Pence was framing as a victory was “far from a victory.”
Mr. Pence’s aides, however, said the trip was a success compared to what it could have been.
“Expectations were that there would be additional sanctions forthcoming,” Mr. Short said. “We were cautious about the prospects for an agreement. We are encouraged that a lot was accomplished within five hours of meetings.”
Mr. Short stressed that it was not just the commitment to stop aggression in Syria, but also to “keep in detention ISIS fighters and protecting religious minorities.” He called those “significant accomplishments.”