Donald Trump warned he would inflict economic devastation on Turkey if it were to attack US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria, as he seeks to limit the damage from his decision to withdraw remaining troops from war-torn Middle Eastern nation.
In a pair of tweets on Sunday night, the US president said he was beginning the “long overdue” pullout from Syria but would continue to target the remnants of Isis in the region. He then added: “Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds”.
His remarks triggered an angry response from Turkey. Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said it was a “fatal mistake” to equate Syrian Kurds with the YPG, an armed group that has played a central role in the US-led campaign against Isis jihadis but is considered a terrorist group by Turkey.
Addressing the US president, Mr Kalin added in a post on Twitter: “Terrorists can’t be your partners & allies. Turkey expects the US to honor our strategic partnership and doesn’t want it to be shadowed by terrorist propaganda.”
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Last month, Mr Trump stunned senior administration officials when he announced the withdrawal of about 2,000 US troops from northern Syria. The move upended Washington’s stated aims in the region, and drew warnings that it would leave Kurdish forces isolated and abandoned even after they had taken a leading role in the campaign to eradicate Isis.
Ankara has always been furious about US support for the YPG, which has close links to a Kurdish militia that has been fighting an armed insurgency against the Turkish state for more than 30 years. Mr Erdogan, who has ordered two military incursions into Syria in recent years, has long vowed to launch an incursion into Kurdish-controlled areas to the east of the Euphrates river. The sudden withdrawal of US troops appeared to clear the way for an offensive.
Yet accusations by Syrian Kurdish forces of betrayal by Washington, and fears that the US withdrawal will strengthen Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his backers Russia and Iran, have prompted a rearguard attempt to protect US interests in the region. John Bolton, the White House national security adviser, travelled to Turkey last week to ask Turkey to promise not to attack Kurdish groups in Syria. But he was snubbed by Mr Erdogan, leaving plans for the US withdrawal in disarray.
Mr Trump’s tweets reflect growing disagreements between the two Nato allies over the pullout, but also hinted at one area of possible agreement. Mr Trump said that he wanted to see the creation of a 20-mile safe zone, without elaborating further. Some analysts believe that Turkey would support the idea of forming a buffer zone that protected its border while limiting the scale of the military operation required.
Escalating tensions between the two Nato allies risk upsetting fragile investor sentiment towards Turkey. The country suffered a severe currency crisis last year after Mr Trump imposed sanctions on Ankara in a bid to force the release of a jailed American pastor. The lira lost close to a third of its value last year, piling pressure on the country’s indebted corporate sector and triggering a sharp slowdown in growth.
The currency has recovered from the record lows that it reached in August, but analysts have warned that it remained sensitive to domestic economic policy and to geopolitical developments.
