Wow this is bad. We were worried at what Trump might give up to the Turks in a call Friday morning, and it looks like he made a pretty terrible decision.
From CBS News:
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says President Trump has told his Turkish counterpart that the United States will no longer supply arms to Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Cavusoglu said Mr. Trump relayed his decision during a telephone conversation between the Turkish and U.S. leaders on Friday. Cavusoglu was present in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office during the telephone call.
Turkey considers the Kurdish Syrian fighters, known by the initials YPG, to be terrorists because of their affiliation to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey. A U.S. decision to arm the fighters soured relations between the two NATO allies.
Cavusoglu said: “Mr. Trump clearly stated that he had given clear instructions and that the YPG won’t be given arms and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago.”
According to CBS, the readout from the Trump administration doesn’t mention this. so hopefully it’s not true, but if it is it would signal yet another betrayal of the Kurds by the U.S. when they’re the fiercest fighters against ISIS in Iraq. And for what? The murderous thug in Ankara?
Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East. I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2017
U.S. foreign policy seems to be determined by the farthest pendulum swing away from whatever last decision was made. This ain’t no good…