After threats Trump .. What scenarios of Turkish response?

Zaher al-Baik-Ankara

US President Donald Trump is not tired of using his Twitter account to send messages to various countries. Experts consider it an innovative model of international relations, but the Turkish Republic, which has repeatedly expressed its displeasure with it, does not like it.

Trump threatened in a tweet today to "destroy Turkey economically" in the event of an attack on the Kurds in Syria, pointing to his country's intention to establish a safe area about twenty miles in Syrian territory.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Javishoglu said in response to the threat posed by Trump that his country had told the United States that it was not afraid of any threat, and that Washington could not achieve the goals by threatening to "destroy" Turkey's economy.

"Strategic partners do not speak through social media," Gawishoglu said at a news conference with Luxembourg's foreign minister.

He reiterated that Turkey is the biggest defender of Kurdish rights in the region and that it is wrong to equate Kurds with terrorist organizations. "If we choose between economic difficulties and terrorist threats, our people will say that I am satisfied with hunger and thirst, but I do not accept submissiveness."

"Terrorists can not be partners and allies of the United States, and Turkey expects the United States to respect its strategic partnership, which must not be affected by terrorist propaganda," Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalan said.

"There is no difference between the PKK, the PKK, the Democratic Union Party and the People's Protection Units, all of them are one thing, and Turkey will fight them all," he told a news conference today to answer Trump.

"Turkey is the protector of the Kurds and not their enemy," said Fakhruddin Alten, head of the Turkish presidential liaison office. "Whatever the source of terrorism, whether ideological, religious or ethnic, this does not change anything for Turkey," he said.

"I appeal to the whole world: we will not allow the establishment of a state on the borders of southern Turkey, north of Syria at all costs," he said.

Disturbing remarks
"Of course, Trump is the president of the world's largest country," said the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and former deputy in the Turkish parliament Rasul Toussoun. "His comments and random comments affect the Turkish economy when it targets them, but nevertheless the Turkish government is determined at the cost of eliminating Terrorism that threatens national security in our country as well as the unity of Syrian territory. "

Towson told Al-Jazeera Net that Ankara will not resort to escalation with America and will contain this crisis, but it will not retreat from its positions and will not bow to such threats, even at the expense of its economy.

He denounced Trump's messages to Turkey through social media sites, describing his comments in this regard as inappropriate for a head of state or even a village choir, as the lines of direct communication are open between Ankara and Washington.

"The absence of a vision for President Trump after the withdrawal from Syria and subjected to pressure from his security services made him flounder in his statements, and Turkey is aware that his recent statements addressed to the American inside."

He stressed that whether US troops withdrew or did not withdraw from the Syrian north, the Turkish army will carry out a military operation east of the Euphrates and the region will be the center of Kurdish terrorist elements and will teach the United States a lesson in support of terrorism in the face of a strong ally like Turkey, he said.

American floundering
For his part, international relations professor Ali Bakir said that confusion in the statements of US officials is a prominent feature of the Trump administration, but the problem is that such confusion loses the credibility of the US administration and arouse confusion and suspicion and distrust of its allies and partners in the region.

"Turkish officials take President Trump's remarks - despite their contradictions - seriously, because they are supposed to build their next step in Syria based on it," Bakir told Al Jazeera Net.

He pointed out that what bothers the Turkish side is the insistence of the Trump administration on its alliance with the Kurdish militias, which are considered a branch in Syria for the PKK, noting that "Washington deliberately generalizes in its talk about the support of the Kurds of Syria, in fact it supports and is allied with terrorist groups that do not represent the Kurds in Syria and the region "He said.

It is noteworthy that the Turkish media reported today that 80 thousand Turkish soldiers in full readiness waiting for a signal from the leadership to start the process of East Euphrates and Manbij, which has been painted by Turkey in recent weeks. That figure is double the number of soldiers who participated in the 1974 "Cyprus Liberation" operation of 40,000.

Safe area
In his talk about the safe area in Syria, the US president did not say who he would establish or pay for, and did not specify where.

In response to this, Rasul Toussoun said that Ankara had proposed the idea of ​​a safe zone from the outset, but Trump's sudden statements, without elaborating any plans, came to confuse Turkey and the world in order to gain time to delay Ankara's military operation in the East Euphrates region.

Ali Bakir considered that Trump's statements regarding the establishment of a safe zone with a depth of 20 km is unclear, and is it intended to establish the two parties jointly? Wondering what will happen to the Kurdish militias allied with America if Washington asks Ankara to establish this region and will it accept that the Kurdish militias are inside or outside it?

Bakir pointed out that Washington may have a real intention to create a safe area, and perhaps the aim is to waste more time to prevent a Turkish military operation in the east of the Euphrates, indicating that it is difficult to stand either under a management very confused and contradictory Trump.

"Two days ago, I met with my colleague Mike Pompeo by telephone. During bilateral meetings between the two countries, we discussed the details of the resolution and how to coordinate. The idea of ​​creating a safe zone in the Syrian north for 20 kilometers is not an idea," said Turkish Foreign Minister Jawishoglu. Washington, but the idea of ​​President Erdogan. "

He pointed out that Erdogan did not propose the idea of ​​a safe area on the United States, but presented the proposal to all European countries and Russia and anyone interested in developments in the situation in Syria.

"We are not opposed to a safe zone. Our goal is to fight terrorism. In the Syrian north there is a terrorist corridor that threatens our national security and wants to divide Syria. We want to remove this corridor."