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Washington (CNN) - In a rare letter sent to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, US President Donald Trump warned that he could destroy the Turkish economy if the situation in Syria is not contained and resolved in a manner human, confirmed CNN.
The tone of the letter is consistent with Trump's unconventional approach to diplomacy, particularly when dealing with strong leaders, since he tells Erdogan: "Let's make a good deal!" And "Don't be silly!"
But it is amazing to see an American president use that language. Trump also warned his Turkish counterpart not to be "a tough guy."
The letter is dated October 9 - three days after the two leaders spoke on the phone - on the same day that the Turkish incursion into Syria began, a detail that raises more questions about what Trump told Erdogan compared to the content of your written correspondence
"Don't disappoint the world," Trump wrote, adding that the Kurds are willing to negotiate and "make concessions they would never have made in the past."
Trump ends by saying, "History will look favorably on you if you do this in the right and humane way." He warns that history will see Erdogan "forever as the devil if something good doesn't happen."
The letter was first reported by Fox Business.
Trump's letter is dated a few days after he spoke with Erdogan by phone on October 6. That conversation was followed by a White House announcement that Turkey would soon begin a military offensive and that US forces would not participate in the operation.
"Turkey will soon move forward with its long-planned operation in northern Syria," a White House statement said at the time. "The United States Armed Forces will not support or participate in the operation, and the United States forces, having defeated ISIS 'territorial Caliphate, will no longer be in the immediate area."
United States withdraws from Syria
A week after the call, on Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that Trump had ordered the remaining US soldiers to leave northern Syria.
“We have American forces probably caught between two opposing armies that are advancing and it is an unsustainable situation. Last night I spoke with the president, after discussions with the rest of the national security team, and he ordered that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria, ”Esper said on CBS's“ Face the Nation. ” "That is where most of our forces are."
On Wednesday, the senior Democrat in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Menéndez of New Jersey, wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, requesting details related to the October 6 call between Trump and Erdogan, comparing him with the revelations about the July 25 conversation between President Trump and the president of Ukraine, which has become the centerpiece of the political trial investigation of the House of Representatives.
“It is imperative that Congress and the American people know what President Trump said in his call with President Erdogan,” Menéndez wrote, citing the secretary’s contradictory descriptions and asking if he or any other State Department official had been in the line. “As we have seen in President Trump's call on July 25, 2019 with Ukrainian President Zelensky, President Trump is not above when he puts his own personal interests before US national security interests. UU. and you are willing to participate in your betrayal of office and country ”.
Trump said Wednesday that Turkey's incursion into northern Syria "has nothing to do with us" and added that the former US allies, the Kurds, "are not angels."
He also falsely claimed that the Kurds "are much safer now," despite their recent decision to withdraw US forces from northern Syria, where the United States had been fighting alongside the Kurds.
“Our soldiers are not in danger, as they shouldn't be, since two countries fight for a land that has nothing to do with us. And the Kurds are much safer now. The Kurds know how to fight and, as I said, they are not angels, ”Trump said during a meeting at the Oval Office with the president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.
“But they fought with us. We pay a lot of money to fight with us, and that's fine. They did well when they fought with us. They didn't do so well when they didn't fight with us, ”he added.
CNN's Jake Tapper contributed to this report.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan Syria
