Photo Credit: WhiteHouse.gov
US President Donald J. Trump at the White House

U.S. President Donald Trump has bluntly warned Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to attack America’s Kurdish allies in Syria – not now, and not after the U.S. pulls its forces out of Syria either.

In one of his more iconic, blunt tweets on Sunday, Trump confirmed that U.S. forces have indeed begun the “long overdue” pullout from Syria, albeit while continuing to hit the “little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions.”

Advertisement




But more to the point, Trump warned the U.S. will “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds.” And instead, urged, “Create 20 mile safe zone” for the forces who had fought alongside American forces against the Islamic State terrorists in northern Syria for so long.

Cognizant that the animosity isn’t at all one-sided, however, Trump added in a second tweet, “…Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey.”

Erdogan has been threatening and planning for months to send the Turkish army into northern Syria on a mission to annihilate the YPG “People’s Protection Unit” of the Syrian Kurdish population in the country.

The Turkish president insists that the YPG is an affiliate of the PKK, a Kurdish group that is an internationally-recognized terrorist organization acknowledged by Israel and the United States. However, the YPG is not perceived in the same light by the U.S. or by Israel, and in fact has fought together with American forces as allies in the battle against ISIS.


Share this article on WhatsApp:
Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleAnti-Semitic Attack in Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Next articleAtomic Energy Chief: Iran Starting to Develop 20%-Enriched Nuclear Fuel
Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.