In a letter, Trump told Erdogan: Don’t be a ‘tough guy’ and a ‘fool’
WASHINGTON:US President Donald Trump sent a letter to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 9, warning him not to be a “tough guy” and a “fool”.
In the letter, he urged President Erdogan to accept the offer of negotiations from the Syrian Kurds.
Earlier on the same day, Trump had ordered the withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria, effectively getting them out of the way of a Turkish military operation against the Kurds.
Trump also warned the Turkish president in the letter that he would destroy the Turkish economy, reminding him of the measures he had ordered to force Ankara to release an American pastor.
The American president offered Erdogan a deal, writing, “History will look upon you favourably if you get this done the right and humane way... It will look upon you as the devil if good things don’t happen.”
“Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool,” he wrote in conclusion.
The Turkish president did not only disregard the offer of a deal and the threats, he sent the letter straight into a trash bin, according to a report by BBC.
PENCE MEETS ERDOGAN, SEEKS SYRIA CEASEFIRE
ANKARA: US vice-president Mike Pence has announced that Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire in Syria. Pence spoke after a US delegation met with Erdogan in Ankara. Pence said there will be “a pause in military operations for 120 hours” to allow the Syrian Kurds to withdraw.
TRUMP: MIDEAST IS A BLOODY SANDBOX
WASHINGTON: Trump depicted West Asia as a “blood-soaked sandbox” where people “play” violently because that’s “what they do” there. “It’s unnatural for us, but it’s sort of natural for them - to fight,” he said.
“It’s a lot of sand,” he said of the Syrian areas of Turkish-kurdish conflict from which he is pulling back US troops. “They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So there’s a lot of sand that they can play with.”