Trump hits Turkey with sanctions
Targeting Turkey’s economy, President Donald Trump announced sanctions yesterday aimed at restraining the Turks’ assault against Kurdish fighters and civilians in Syria — an assault Turkey began after Trump announced he was moving US troops out of the way.
The United States also called on Turkey to stop the invasion and declare a ceasefire, and Trump is sending Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser Robert O’Brien to Ankara as soon as possible in an attempt to begin negotiations. Pence said Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised not attack the border town of Kobani, which in 2015 witnessed the Islamic State group’s first defeat in a battle by US-backed Kurdish fighters.
‘‘President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of American wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence,’’ Pence said.
The Americans were scrambling for Syria’s exits, a move criticised at home and abroad as opening the door to a resurgence of the Islamic State group, whose violent takeover of Syrian and Iraqi lands five years ago was the reason American forces came in the first place.
Trump said the approximately 1000 US troops who had been partnering with local Kurdish fighters to battle IS in northern Syria were leaving the country. They will remain in the Middle East, he said, to ‘‘monitor the situation’’ and to prevent a revival of IS – a goal that even Trump’s allies say has become much harder as a result of the US pullout.
Trump said Turkey’s invasion is ‘‘precipitating a humanitarian crisis and setting conditions for possible war crimes,’’ a reference to reports of Turkish-backed fighters executing Kurdish fighters on the battlefield.
The Kurdish forces previously allied with the US said they had reached a deal with President Bashar Assad’s government to help them fend off Turkey’s invasion, a move that brings Russian forces deeper into the conflict.
In his sanctions announcement, Trump said he was halting negotiations on a US$100 billion trade deal with Turkey and raising steel tariffs back up to 50 per cent.
Trump also imposed sanctions on three senior Turkish officials and Turkey’s defence and energy ministries.
‘‘I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path,’’ the president said.