Trump hopes to mediate between Turkey and the Kurds after US withdrawal from Syria, in preference to sending in thousands of troops or sanctions on Erdogan’s regime
- President Trump said he hopes to help ‘mediate’ between the Kurds and Turkey
- Trump said the US can either mediate, send troops back in or impose sanctions
- Ankara launched attacks on Kurds following a US troop pullout of northern Syria
- Turkish President Erdogan launched airstrikes on US-allied Kurdish YPG militia
President Donald Trump said today he hopes he can mediate between Turkey and the Kurds following Turkey’s offensive on US-allied Kurds in northeast Syria.
Trump, who pulled US troops out of the area before the Turkish attack, said on Twitter that the United States had three options.
‘We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!’ Trump said.
‘I hope we can mediate,’ Trump said when asked about the options by reporters at the White House. ‘Turkey knows where I stand,’ he added.
President Donald Trump answers questions before boarding Marine One yesterday. He said he hopes to mediate a deal between the Kurds and Syria following attacks after a US pullout
Trump said he did not think Americans wanted to see the US military sent back into the region.
‘We are going to possibly do something very very tough with respect to sanctions and other financial things,’ Trump said without elaborating.
Trump ordered the pullback after a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, prompting rare criticism from senior figures in his own Republican Party who accuse him of deserting loyal US allies – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Kurdish YPG militia.
The SDF have been the main allies of US forces on the ground in the battle against Islamic State since 2014.
Trump has called the Turkish assault a ‘bad idea,’ said he did not endorse it, and threatened to devastate the NATO ally’s economy if Ankara’s incursion into Syria wipes out the Kurdish population there.
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