President Trump rebuked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for “destructive and false rhetoric,” in a Wednesday phone call that was aimed at defusing conflict between the NATO ally and U.S. partners in Syria.
“He urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces,” according to a White House press office summary of the conversation.
It’s a startling message for an American president to have to deliver to Turkey, which has played a critical role in the NATO alliance for decades. Disputes about how to respond to the threat of the Islamic State in Syria — in particular, U.S. cooperation with Syrian Kurds, whom Turkey regards as another dangerous terrorist threat — have come to a head following the destruction of ISIS as a landholding power. The phone call took place as Turkey is in the midst of an offensive against Kurdish fighters trained by the United States.
“President Trump relayed concerns that escalating violence in Afrin, Syria, risks undercutting our shared goals in Syria,” the White House noted. “He urged Turkey to deescalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees.”
Turkey launched an assault on U.S.-backed Kurds in northern Syria over the weekend, in order to eliminate the prospect of Kurdish forces gaining long-term control over the region bordering the two countries. Turkey regards the Syrian Kurds, known as the YPG, as indistinguishable from the PKK — an organization of Turkish Kurds that has been branded a foreign terrorist organization for fighting a decades-long separatist war against Turkey’s central government. Erdogan justifies the offensive as part of the fight against terrorism, claiming that the Kurds are also harboring members of ISIS.
“It is alleged that the YPG terrorist group has released Daesh members to fight against us,” Erdoğan said Wednesday, per Turkish media, using an alternative name for ISIS. “What difference does that make? They are all the same. They are terror groups that have assumed different roles in the same scenario.”
U.S. officials dispute Turkish claims that ISIS is in the vicinity. “We do not see ISIS in that area,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday.
Erdogan took a hard line in the call with Trump, according to leaks from his team. “Erdoğan also told Trump that the U.S. aid to the terrorists in the region should end as soon as possible,” The Daily Sabah reported.
Trump rebuked Erdogan while trying to convince him that the Kurds, whom the United States has found to be the most effective local fighters against ISIS in Syria as well as Iraq, would not pose a long-term threat to Turkey.
“The leaders discussed the need to stabilize a unified Syria that poses no threats to its neighbors, including Turkey,” the White House team noted. “President Trump also expressed concern about destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey, and about United States citizens and local employees detained under the prolonged State of Emergency in Turkey.”
