The United States faced further diplomatic humiliation on Thursday as it emerged that Recep Tayyip Erdogan “binned” a letter from Donald Trump asking him not to invade Syria and vowed to continue Turkey’s operation there despite US calls for a ceasefire.
News of the spectacular snub came as Mike Pence, the US vice president, flew into Ankara on an emergency mission to end Turkey’s assault on formerly US-allied Kurdish forces and defuse a rapidly escalating diplomatic crisis between Nato’s two largest armies.
The letter, dated October 9, the day the Turkish offensive began, was released by the White House on Wednesday in response to accusations that Mr Trump gave Mr Erdogan a “green light” for the attack when he ordered US troops out of northern Syria.
AFP
Written in colloquial, non diplomatic language, it used a combination of exhortation laced with threats to persuade Mr Erdogan to reverse a decision to invade Syria that the Turkish leader told Mr Trump about in an Oct 6 phone call.
“Let’s work out a good deal!” Mr Trump began. “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.”
He went on: ”I have worked hard to solve some of your problems. Don’t let the world down. You can make a great deal.“
The president said he was enclosing a letter from the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, that included offers of important concessions.
"History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!“ said Mr Trump, before signing off with: ”I will call you later."
Evrim Aydin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Turkish officials confirmed the letter was genuine and said Mr Erdogan simply threw the letter in the bin and ordered the attack to begin.
"The letter was written on 9 October. Erdogan rejected the offer of mediation and it was thrown into the trash. The clearest answer to this letter was the reply given at 4pm on 9 October. This was the start of Operation Peace Spring," a senior Turkish official told the Yeni Safak newspaper.
In another revelation of Mr Trump’s diplomatic manoeuvring, Gen Abdi said the US president effectively approved a deal last week between the SDF, Russia, and Syria that has eroded US influence in the region.
"We told (Trump) that we are contacting the Syrian regime and the Russians in order to protect our country and land,“ he told a local TV station, Ronahi TV. "He said, ‘We are not against that. We support that.’"
Mr Pence and Mr Erdogan spent 90 minutes in a one-on-one meeting on Thursday afternoon, and met again with full delegations, including Mr Pompeo, for several hours in the evening.
OZAN KOSE/AFP
European leaders including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, also reiterated calls for Turkey to halt the offensive.
But Turkish officials indicated Ankara was determined to push ahead with the offensive despite the US demands.
Ümit Yalçın, Turkey’s ambassador to London said: "This military operation was a necessity of our security. We did not plan this overnight or just after a few telephone conversations.“
"This is not a war and there cannot be a ceasefire. There is a counter-terrorism operation and it will end when there is a safe zone for the return for Syrian refugees,“ he added.
Turkey launched its offensive into northern Syria on Wednesday last week in an effort to crush the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed Kurdish-led militia that it says is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a banned terrorist group in many Nato countries.
Mr Erdogan says he wants to create a 20-mile deep ”safe zone“ on the Syrian side of the border and settle millions of displaced Syrian refugees there.
Kurdish authorities said 218 civilians, including 18 children, had been killed since the fighting began.
The Kurdish Red Crescent issued an urgent appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross to organise the evacuation of civilians from the border town Ras al-Ain, also known as Serikane, which has been at the centre of the past eight days’ fighting.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish and Turkish-backed forces, who have surrounded the city, made further gains in the under cover of heavy artillery fire on Thursday morning.
The SDF said the only hospital there was bombed and a civilian convoy hit by shells or an airstrike on Thursday morning. The group also accused Turkey of using using ”non-conventional“ weapons in the city.
The claim could not be immediately verified.
The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin would host Mr Erdogan for talks on the Syria crisis in Sochi on Tuesday.
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