President Donald Trump‘s letter to Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Syria was publicly released on Wednesday, and critics were quick to note both its odd contents and its lack of professionalism and sophistication.
SLIDESHOW: TOP DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020
In the letter, Trump warned Erdogan against acting like “a tough guy” or “a fool” by invading Syria. The White House recently withdrew troops from the country’s northern border with Turkey, a move that members of both parties severely criticized because it represented an abandonment of Kurdish forces, one of the U.S.’s key allies in fighting ISIS. The House of Representatives passed a resolution on Wednesday to formally condemn the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region, and the Senate is preparing to pass a similar measure.
Fox Business anchor Trish Regan shared a copy of the letter Wednesday on Twitter:
“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,” Trump wrote to Erdogan after calling for Turkey’s leader to help him “work out a good deal” regarding Syria. Trump also mentioned Evangelical Pastor Andrew Brunson, one of his supporters who was imprisoned in Turkey for two years, in order to make a point about how he could hurt the country’s economy.
Trump also said in the letter that General Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the Syrian Kurdish forces, was open to negotiating a sound conflict resolution with Erdogan.
“He is willing to make concessions that they would never have made in the past,” Trump wrote of Abdi and the Kurds.
“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way,” Trump wrote to his Turkish counterpart. “It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen,” he added.
The letter is dated Oct. 9, three days after the White House formally announced it would back Turkey’s invasion of Syria and pull U.S. troops out of the region.
