Rhetorical answer: Pompeo announced his readiness to use the armed forces against Turkey

The United States is ready to use its armed forces in Syria, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, answering a question about a possible military response to the Turkish military operation in Syria. In his opinion, President Donald Trump is ready for such actions.

“We prefer peace to war,” he told CNBC. “But if military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared for this step.”

Note that Trump, speaking of measures against Turkey, is limited only by the economy. Earlier, he warned that he could “destroy” the Turkish economy. And on Monday, October 21, the president announced the possibility of introducing new sanctions.

“Remember: if Turkey behaves inappropriately - which I personally doubt - then we have a tool whose effectiveness no one was fully aware of. These are sanctions. These are duties. We will introduce exorbitant duties on the goods that they export here. They are sending huge volumes of steel and other things to the United States. We will impose duties and sanctions on them, ”he said.

October 15, Trump has already imposed sanctions against Ankara. They apply to the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Defense, their heads Fatih Donmez and Hulusi Akar, as well as Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Suleiman Soilu.

However, the US opposition considered this insufficient. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a member of the Democratic Party, said it could not stop the “humanitarian catastrophe.”

“President Trump has unleashed an escalation of chaos and instability in Syria. His statement on a package of sanctions against Turkey is not enough to reverse this humanitarian catastrophe, ”she said.

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The measures introduced freeze the property and funds of these departments and officials located in the United States. Neither American citizens nor companies can enter into transactions with them. In addition to these sanctions, Trump also said that he increased the import duties on Turkish steel by 50%.

However, it is worth noting that in Turkey they declared the course unchanged, despite these restrictions. According to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the military operation "Source of Peace" in Syria will continue until Ankara reaches all its goals in the region.

“Until the operation fulfills all its goals, it will continue. Our goals are clear; there is no concern about sanctions. Our goal is to remove the terrorists 32 kilometers from the border, ”he said.

At the same time, the words about a possible US military response to the Turkish operation are more like rhetoric than a real threat, said Alexei Pushkov, head of the Commission on Information Policy of the Federation Council.

“From the unprecedented: according to Pompeo, if necessary, Trump is ready for military action against Turkey (!). It has not yet been such that the United States threatened to strike at an ally of NATO. It sounds like rhetoric, ”he wrote on Twitter.

From the unprecedented: according to Pompeo, if necessary, Trump is ready for military action against Turkey (!). It has not yet been such that the United States threatened to strike at an ally of NATO. Sounds like rhetoric. Today I listened in Istanbul to Erdogan, the foreign ministers and defense of Turkey. It is unlikely that they will be able to frighten

The United States will not proceed with military operations against Turkey, Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Research, is convinced.

“Naturally, the US will not use any force against Turkey. The only thing they will demand is that the Turks kill the Kurds not very much and not very fast. If there is a lot and a lot, then the opposition will really mind. As for the Turkish operation itself, it was agreed with Washington, ”he told RT.

Bruter reminded that Trump and Erdogan had communicated before the operation and the parties agreed to carry it out, but later the head of the White House had to take a tougher stance - due to the lack of support from not only the Democrats, but also the Republicans. Note that the United States before the outbreak of hostilities withdrew its troops from the region.

“The objections in the White House began only after not only the majority of the Democrats opposed this, but also a significant part of the Republicans. After that, Trump and Pompeo began to win back a little. Everyone has become accustomed to formidable speeches from the White House and the State Department. But of course, the United States is not ready in its current form to organize any provocations against Turkey, ”the expert said.

"Source of the world"

Recall operation "Source of Peace" in Syria began on October 9. During it, Turkey is conducting military operations against illegal armed groups of Kurds from the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the People’s Self-Defense Units, which are considered terrorist by Ankara.

Legally, Turkey relies on the Adan Agreement concluded with Syria in 1998. According to him, if Damascus does not make sufficient efforts to combat illegal Kurdish formations, Ankara has the right to enter its forces and conduct its own military operation.

According to Turkish officials, the UN Security Council countries and Syria itself were informed about the start of the operation through the Consulate General in Istanbul. Erdogan also had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which leaders confirmed that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Arab Republic should not be violated.

Turkey continues to inform the international community of the progress of the operation. So, in the evening of October 21, the country's Ministry of Defense in its Twitter reported that the military attaches of 63 countries were informed about the current situation.

Military attaches from 63 countries in Ankara were briefed at the Ministry of National Defense about the Peace Spring Operation and the current situation in Syria.

Trump is advantageous for Turkey to conduct a military operation, said Gevorg Mirzayan, assistant professor of political science at the Financial University under the Russian government.

“This allowed Trump to unleash the Kurdish issue, withdraw troops from Northern Syria - something that he had long wanted, but was not given to him. On the other hand, if Trump is now silent about Turkey’s operation against the Kurds, it will be strange. Kurds are allies, and they need to be protected at least for the sake of the international reputation of the United States, ”he told RT.

“The Syrian people have the right to resist”

At the same time, the Syrian authorities are opposed to the operation. President of the Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad described it as aggression.

“The Turkish invasion is an aggression by all international standards, and the Syrian people have the legal right to resist the occupying forces by all available means,” the Syrian president said.

It should be noted that a few days after Turkey began its operation, representatives of the Kurds and the Syrian government held negotiations. They took place at the Russian military base in Khmeimim. According to media reports, the Kurds decided to transfer the border with Turkey and border cities to government forces, so that in return they would protect them.

It is noteworthy that at some point the Syrian troops heading to the north-east of the country met with American forces, which, on the contrary, left their positions.

"Show that the US is not self-relieving"

Against Turkey's military operation, the countries of the European Union and the United States spoke out. European states issued a joint statement condemning Ankara’s actions and urged her to withdraw her troops.

The United States sent a delegation to Ankara led by Vice President Michael Pence for negotiations. On October 17, following their results, Turkey agreed to suspend its military operation for 120 hours so that the “Kurdistan Workers Party” would withdraw its forces from the region.

The parties also agreed to create security zones in the Syrian border with Turkey with a total length of 440 km. The Kurds will have to withdraw their forces from the demarcation line established 32 km from the Turkish border.

In addition, Pence said that if the agreement is fulfilled, the United States will lift the previously imposed sanctions and will not introduce new ones. At the same time, Kurds, and Turkey, and the media reported violations of the silence regime, however, in Washington, they noted that the agreements were being respected.

The actions and statements from Washington have the task of creating the impression that the Americans are involved in the process and solving the problems of the region, Mirzayan is convinced.

“The rhetoric of the United States is now aimed at showing the Turks, American allies and opponents that the US is not eliminating the problem, that they are participating in it and kind of formally defending its allies. A rhetorical device that does not oblige anyone to anything, but shows that the Americans are still in control, ”the analyst concluded.