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Trump Praises Kurds, Turkey as Confrontation Looms

Jeff Seldin

   (Carla Babb at the Pentagon and Nike Ching contributed to this
   article.)

   WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that he is
   not abandoning Kurdish forces in Syria, despite his orders to withdraw
   U.S. special forces from the Syrian-Turkish border region to make way
   for a Turkish incursion.

   "We may be in the process of leaving Syria, but in no way have we
   Abandoned the Kurds, who are special people and wonderful fighters,"
   Trump tweeted.

   "Any unforced or unnecessary fighting by Turkey will be devastating to
   their economy and to their very fragile currency,' he added. "We are
   helping the Kurds financially/weapons!"

     We may be in the process of leaving Syria, but in no way have we
     Abandoned the Kurds, who are special people and wonderful fighters.
     Likewise our relationship with Turkey, a NATO and Trading partner,
     has been very good. Turkey already has a large Kurdish population
     and fully....
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]October 8, 2019

   But in a separate set of tweets Tuesday, the president also praised
   Turkey, inviting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit the
   White House next month (November 13), while calling Ankara a "big
   trading partner" and crediting the Turkish government with "helping me
   to save many lives at Idlib Province."

   The assurances, seemingly aimed at soothing Turkey, a NATO ally, and
   the Kurds, a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State terror
   group, comes days after the White House surprised many in Washington
   and around the world by suddenly announcing it had ordered the
   withdrawal of about 50 U.S. special forces in the area along the
   Syrian-Turkish border, clearing the way for Turkey to proceed with its
   long-planned offensive.
   

References

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