Donald Trump has been sending mixed signals about the Turkish operation in Syria, now in its second week: he first appeared to endorse it by withdrawing the 1,000 troops from the path of Turkish forces but a week later imposed economic sanctions on Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discarded Donald Trump's letter, in which he threatened him with potentially destructive economic sanctions, Turkish presidential sources told the BBC.
“President Erdogan received the letter, thoroughly rejected it and put it in the bin,” the sources were quoted as saying.
The letter was first obtained by Fox Business on Wednesday, after Trump referred to it during a press conference, and has been widely circulated online due to its unusual language: it is devoid of diplomatic niceties.
“Let's work out a good deal! You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy – and I will,” Trump said in the letter.
He also told Erdogan, “Don't be a fool!” and “Don't let the world down.”
The letter is dated Wednesday, 9 October, the day Turkey launched its cross-border military operation in northeast Syria. Just days prior to that, Trump and Erdogan had a phone call, after which the White House announced the pullback of US troops from positions in northeast Syria, effectively clearing the way for Turkish troops.
Writing in the Washington Post before the launch of the offensive,…