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Turkey within Trump red line, US seeking ceasefire: official
WASHINGTON, Oct 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Turkey’s assault on Syrian Kurdish
forces has not breached a red line declared by President Donald Trump, a US
official said Thursday, as he added that Washington wanted to broker a
ceasefire.
Trump, in a week of mixed messages, initially voiced understanding for
Turkey before criticizing the offensive and warning of sanctions if the
operation is not “humane.”
Asked to define what actions would violate Trump’s vague warning, the US
official said they would include “ethnic cleansing… indiscriminate
artillery, air and other fires directed at civilian populations.”
“That is what we’re looking at right now. We have not seen significant
examples of that so far, but we’re very early,” the official told reporters
on condition of anonymity.
He said that the operation launched Wednesday was not yet large-scale,
saying the Turks “really have not engaged in great depth or in great numbers
inside the border yet.”
“That’s one reason why we’re issuing so many warnings, because we’re very,
very concerned about such indiscriminate firings,” he said.
Trump has come under heavy criticism at home, even among usually steadfast
Republican supporters, who say he abandoned US-allied Kurdish fighters who
led the fight against the Islamic State group.
In a phone call on Sunday with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump — a
longtime critic of prolonged military involvements overseas — said he was
withdrawing US troops who had effectively served as a buffer preventing a
Turkish incursion.
On Twitter on Thursday, Trump said that he hoped to “mediate a deal between
Turkey and the Kurds” — saying the alternatives were sending in “thousands
of troops” or hitting Turkey hard with sanctions.
Asked to elaborate on the remarks, the US official said that Trump had
asked diplomats to seek an end to the violence.
“We have been tasked by the president to try to see if there are areas of
commonality between the two sides, if there’s a way that we can find our way
to a ceasefire,” the official said.
He noted that Turkey in the past has reached ceasefires with the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged decades of separatist violence inside
Turkey.
Erdogan as well as the Trump administration link the PKK to the Kurdish
People’s Protection Unit, or YPG, which dominates the Syrian Democratic
Forces in Syria.
“That’s the path that the president would most prefer to do — a negotiated
settlement,” the official said.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0913 hrs