Donald Trumps bizarre, threatening letter to Erdoan: Dont be a fool – The Guardian

Donald Trump warned his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoan dont be a fool and said history risked branding him a devil in an extraordinary letter sent the day Turkey launched its incursion into north-eastern Syria.

The letter, first obtained by a Fox Business reporter, was shorn of diplomatic niceties and began with an outright threat.

Lets work out a good deal! Trump wrote in the letter dated 9 October, whose authenticity was confirmed to various news outlets by the White House.

Days after appearing to greenlight an invasion by pulling US troops from the Kurdish-dominated region, Trump told the Turkish president he would wreck Ankaras economy if the invasion went too far.

You dont want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I dont want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy and I will, he wrote.

History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way, Trump continued. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things dont happen.

Dont be a tough guy. Dont be a fool! he finished, adding: I will call you later.

International and domestic reaction was for the most part incredulous.

Erdoan received the letter, thoroughly rejected it and put it in the bin, Turkish presidential sources told the BBC on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials on the BBC report.

The Kremlin questioned the letters tone. You dont often encounter such language in correspondence between heads of state. Its a highly unusual letter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

In the US, many at first questioned the letters legitimacy. Some called it a joke and an embarrassment.

I actually thought it was a prank, a joke, that it couldnt possibly come from the Oval Office, the Democratic congressman Mike Quigley said to CNN. It sounds all the world like the president of the United States, in some sort of momentary lapse, just dictated angrily whatever was on the top of his head.

Quigley, a member of the House intelligence committee, continued: For him to write this and to also say that it doesnt affect us is ignorance at the highest level.

The release of the letter came on the heels of an overwhelming House vote to condemn Trumps troop withdrawal from Syria.

Today in the House, we voted 354-60 to condemn Trumps actions with regard to Syria, the Democratic congressman Mike Levin said on Twitter. Also, this letter is an embarrassment to the office.

It also came out on the day of a heated White House meeting that ended with Trump allegedly calling the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a third-rate politician and Pelosi saying: I pray for the president all the time I think now we have to pray for his health this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president.

Trump reportedly handed out copies of the letter at the meeting.

The letter was quickly parodied.

On Wednesday, Trump also hailed his own decision to withdraw US troops from Syria as strategically brilliant and declared the Kurds were much safer now, contradicting the official assessment of both the state and defense departments that the Turkish offensive was a disaster for regional stability and the fight against Isis.

Former officials said the most significant point about the letter was Trumps readiness to share a supposedly confidential letter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leader, Mazloum Kobani, with Erdoan, whose forces were launching an attack on the SDF.

General Mazloum is willing to negotiate with you, and he is willing to make concessions that they would never have made in the past. I am confidentially enclosing a copy of his letter to me, just received, Trump wrote.

These words on White House stationary [sic] should embarrass all Americans, but Trumps confidential enclosure of the SDF commanders letter will give our allies even less reason to trust America, said Ned Price, a former CIA officer and National Security Council spokesman. How much Nato correspondence has been forwarded to Putin?

Julian Borger contributed reporting

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Donald Trumps bizarre, threatening letter to Erdoan: Dont be a fool - The Guardian