Tag: Trump caved to Turkey

Trump says U.S. will lift sanctions on Turkey, calling cease-fire in Syria ‘permanent’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will lift sanctions on Turkey, saying that the Turkish government has informed the White House that it will abide by what he characterized as a “permanent” cease-fire along the border with Syria.

At a hastily organized event in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Trump also used the occasion to justify his “America First” foreign policy agenda, pushing back against critics by arguing that he is removing U.S. troops from a region where they should not be involved.

“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” Trump said.

View the complete October 23 article by Felicia Sonmez and David Nakamura on The Washington Post website here.

Russia and Turkey reach deal to push Kurdish forces out of zone in northern Syria

Washington Post logoISTANBUL — Russia and Turkey agreed Tuesday on a plan to push Syrian Kurdish fighters from a wide swath of territory just south of Turkey’s border, cementing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s preeminent role in Syria as U.S. troops depart and America’s influence wanes.

The agreement, reached after an hours-long meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, will leave Turkey and Russia in control of territory formerly held by Kurdish forces once allied with the United States.

More important, though, the deal bolstered Russia’s preferred endgame in Syria’s civil war by allowing its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to regain control over more of his country’s territory. Russia is also prodding states in the region to recognize, either explicitly or tacitly, the Syrian government’s authority, analysts said.

View the complete October 22 article by Kareem Fahim, Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Just Gave ISIS ‘Its Biggest Win In More Than Four Years

Trump continues to claim credit for single-handedly defeating ISIS, but his reckless and chaotic decision to withdraw from Syria was a big win for ISIS and greatly improved its prospects. After inheriting a successful anti-ISIS campaign, Trump is risking the reversal of hard-fought gains by the U.S. and our allies.

TRUMP, TUESDAY: “ISIS was all over the place … It was me…who captured them. I’m the one who did the capturing. I’m the one who knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits.”

TRUMP, ALSO TUESDAY: “When I took over ISIS was all over the place. You know that better than anybody, two and a half years ago. I went in and when I started I got rid of that whole thing. All those prisoners, all that — those are my — they were captured under Trump.” Continue reading “Trump Just Gave ISIS ‘Its Biggest Win In More Than Four Years”

Erdogan says Turkey will ‘never declare a ceasefire’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed US calls for a ceasefire in northern Syria and said that he’s not worried about American-imposed sanctions, or the advancement of Russian-backed Syrian forces toward the Turkish border.

Speaking to journalists traveling on his presidential plane following a visit to Azerbaijan Tuesday, Erdogan said a ceasefire was off the table. “Declare a ceasefire, they say. We will never declare a ceasefire,” Erdogan said. “We do not sit at the table with terrorist organizations.”

Erdogan’s comments come as Russian-backed Syrian regime troops on Tuesday gained control of the town of Manbij and surrounding areas, until recently an active US military outpost.

View the complete October 16 article by Helen Regan and Taylor Barnes on the CNN website here.

Trump’s sanctions won’t bite a vulnerable Turkish economy

FRANKFURT, Germany — The sanctions the U.S. announced against Turkey this week over its offensive in Syria fall well short of doing serious damage to an economy still healing from a recession and currency collapse.

President Donald Trump could take far tougher action that would deter foreign investment and credit that Turkey badly needs. But doing so could backfire in a number of ways, and it’s not clear he really wants to.

Trump has said he could “destroy and obliterate” the economy of Turkey and called on the country to rein in its Syria offensive.

View the complete October 15 article by David McHugh from the Associated Press on The Star Tribune website here.

Trump: Let Assad, Russia or China protect the Kurds

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday said other countries — including China or Russia — should be responsible for protecting the U.S.-allied Kurds in northern Syria amid a groundswell of bipartisan criticism over his decision to pull American forces out of the region.

Trump took to Twitter to argue against a U.S. presence in the region, even as some of his staunchest allies in Congress assert that his strategy has opened the door for Turkey to slaughter the Kurds and for a resurgence of ISIS.

“Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria and Assad to protect the land of our enemy?” Trump tweeted.

View the complete October 14 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Trump faces bipartisan criticism for Syria withdrawal

Washington Post logoPresident Trump faced bipartisan criticism Sunday for his decision to order a withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria, with one congressional Republican denouncing the move as “weak” and a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman warning that it will “diminish the character of our great nation.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, announced that both chambers are readying a joint resolution urging Trump to reverse his decision.

The developments came on the same day that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced the planned withdrawal of virtually all U.S. forces from northern Syria in the face of a Turkish military offensive targeting Kurdish fighters in the region.

View the complete October 13 article by Felicia Sonmez on The Washington Post website here.

Five ways Trump’s Syria decision spells trouble

The Hill logoPresident Trump this week showed no sign of backing down on his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria, stoking fears in Washington of worst-case scenarios from abandoning a crucial defense partner.

Trump’s move, which has paved the way for Turkey to proceed with a long-planned offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces who were instrumental in the fight against ISIS, has far-reaching implications both at home and abroad.

Critics, including many from Trump’s own party, argue the president is irreparably damaging the country’s standing as a reliable partner by abandoning a U.S. ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to be slaughtered by Turkey as well as fueling mayhem in the region that could allow ISIS to regain its footing.

View the complete October 12 article by Ellen Mitchell on The Hill website here.

Trump downplays U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurds, saying ‘they didn’t help us in the Second World War’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump said Wednesday that it would be “easy” for the United States to form new alliances if Syrian Kurds leave the fight against the Islamic State to fend off a Turkish attack, noting that “they didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us in Normandy” and were only interested in fighting for “their land.”

“With all of that being said, we like the Kurds,” he said in response to questions about Turkey’s incursion into Syria.

Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks, following a White House ceremony where he signed unrelated executive orders, came as the administration continued an effort to correct what it has called the misimpression that Trump enabled the offensive against the U.S.-allied Kurds that Turkey launched Wednesday. The president spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Sunday.

View the complete October 9 article by Karen DeYoung, Missy Ryan and Dan Lamothe on The Washington Post website here.

Furor over pulling troops from northeast Syria began with troubling Trump phone call and White House statement

Washington Post logoThe furor over the decision to pull U.S. troops out of northeastern Syria began late Sunday night with a poorly conceived White House statement about an ominous telephone conversation between President Trump and the Turkish president.

The results have been rapid and remain unpredictable — and, in the view of critics, amount to the abandonment of America’s Syrian Kurdish allies to a massive Turkish military assault.

As Turkish forces hovered on the Syrian border Tuesday, U.S. officials said the attack could come within hours. On Twitter, Trump wrote that the United States had provided arms for the Kurds and warned that any “unforced or unnecessary fighting by Turkey will be devastating to their economy and to their very fragile currency.”

View the complete October 8 article by Karen DeYoung and Kareem Fahim on The Washington Post website here.