Erdogan gave Trump his ‘tough guy’ letter back
WASHINGTON – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a White House news conference Wednesday that he had returned the letter President Donald Trump sent him last month warning him not to be a “tough guy” as his military prepared to invade Kurdish territory in northern Syria.
“This letter was represented to Mr. President this afternoon,” Erdogan said when asked why he ignored Trump’s advice and proceeded with the military incursion.
“We gave back the letter that we have received,” he repeated at the end of his response, apparently rejecting reports he had thrown the letter in the trash.
Trump wrote the letter advising Erdogan to take a diplomatic approach to the situation amid an uproar over his decision to pull U.S. troops out of the area, paving the way for Turkish forces to advance.
Erdogan had frequently expressed his desire to take military action against the Kurds in the region, whom he considers terrorists allied with Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey. But U.S. forces acted as a buffer between Turkey and the Kurds, whose Syrian Democratic Forces lost 11,000 fighters battling against the Islamic State alongside American troops.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers decried Trump’s sudden decision to pull out of the area after an Oct. 6 phone call with Erdogan, warning it paved the way for the slaughter and “ethnic cleansing” of an ally, emboldened Iran and Russia, and opened the door to an ISIS resurgence.