In an energetic letter of 9 October 2019 addressed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the American president, all claws out, draws: “Do not play hard! Do not be fooled! ” And Donald Trump, adept in the announcement effect whose Twitter feed is the most appropriate channel, to clarify his thinking in these terms, catapulting the good old diplomacy in the ropes:
“You do not want to be responsible for the massacre of thousands of people, and I do not want to be responsible for the destruction of the Turkish economy – which I would do (if necessary),” says Trump in this short letter written to persuade his Turkish counterpart to reverse his decision to invade northern Syria to attack the Kurds. The letter written the same day that the Turkish army crossed the Syrian border to fight the Kurdish militia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Ankara regards the YPG as a “terrorist organization” for its links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which delivers bloody guerrilla warfare in Turkey.
Far from taking action, the US president seems to have made a surprising turnaround, Wednesday before the departure of his emissaries in the region “If Turkey goes to Syria, it is a case between Turkey and Syria, it is not is not our problem. And continue with a mischievous smile “The Kurds are not angels”.
Turkey’s response has been much more Mediterranean. “We are no longer able to follow,” repeated Recep Tayyip Erdogan, quoted by the Turkish daily Hürriyet, referring to the versatility of the White House tenant.
The stated objective of the Turkish operation is the creation of a “security zone” 32 km deep along its border. It would separate it from the YPG areas and repatriate some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey. The Turkish invasion is the answer to the US decision to withdraw its troops from northern Syria.
