US President Donald Trump has warned Turkey of „economic destruction“ in the event of an attack on Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Turkey will be „economically destroyed“ if it attacks the Kurds, Trump wrote last night (local time) on Twitter.
Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions. Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone ….
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2019
„At the same time, I do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey,“ he added in another message. Trump also spoke of the creation of a safety zone of 32 kilometers, but did not explain in detail.
Trigger US deduction
The US-allied Kurds in northern Syria fear an attack by Turkey following the withdrawal of US troops from the country. Ankara sees the Kurdish fighters as terrorists and extended arm of the banned Kurdish workers‘ party PKK in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said on Tuesday that he wanted to take action very soon „to neutralize these terrorist organizations on Syrian soil.“
In December, he had put an offensive against the Kurdish troops on hold for the time being, after the US had announced its withdrawal troops from Syria. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said in an interview with NTV that Turkey would strike if the US delayed its withdrawal too long.
