Trump Threatened to Destroy Turkey’s Economy

The U.S. President did not specify what exactly Turkey should do in order for the U.S. to destroy its economy. In the coming days, Ankara was about to begin a military operation against the Kurds in Syria. Donald Trump promised to destroy the Turkish economy if it steps over a line. He wrote about this on Twitter on Monday, October 7. At the same time, the U.S. president did not specify for what specific actions Turkey could be punished. “As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” Trump said. Markets quickly reacted to the threats of the American president. Soon after the tweet, the Turkish lira exchange rate fell 2.31 percent, according to the Market Watch business portal. U.S. withdraws troops from Syria Earlier, the U.S. President also said that it was time for U.S. troops to withdraw from Syria, “from these endless wars.” According to him, Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Russia and the Kurds must now decide for themselves what they want to do with the captured Islamic State militants. He noted Washington’s support for the Kurds. These statements sound against the background of Turkey’s preparations for a military operation east of the Euphratesin Syria. The purpose of the operation is to cleanse the territory of the Syrian Kurdish Self-Defense Forces (YPG), which Ankara considers an ally of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) banned in Turkey. The U.S. does not support, but does not interfere with the operation. US Back-stabbing The YPG called the behavior of the USA a “stab in the back”. Representatives of the Syrian Kurdish Self-Defense Forces indicated that earlier Washington promised to prevent a Turkish invasion of the region. The YPG was one of the main U.S. allies in the fight against ISIL. Germany and the European Union called on Turkey to abandon this military operation. According to Berlin and Brussels, it could lead to a further escalation of the conflict and a new flow of refugees. DW