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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday (November 13) that he returned a letter by his US counterpart Donald Trump that threatened Ankara over its military operation in northeastern Syria.
"I presented the letter to Mr. President and especially felt sorrow that a US president took a terrorist called Ferhat Abdi Şahin as an addressee," said Erdoğan during a press conference with Trump in Washington.
Şahin, also known as Mazloum Kobani, is the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which Turkey considers to be a Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Trump had said he looks forward to meeting him in person.
Erdoğan said Şahin has "caused the deaths of hundreds of Turkish people and is the adopted son of Abdullah Öcalan," the jailed leader of the PKK.
"That the US, which we call our strategic partner, welcomes such a person actually saddens us. Likewise, this person is welcomed by Russia. It is hard to comprehend this within the scope of the fight against terrorism across the world," said Erdoğan.
The letter Trump sent to Erdoğan on October 9 threatened Turkey with economic devastation if Ankara proceeded with its operation in northeastern Syria. Trump called on Erdoğan to "make a deal" not to be a "fool," in the letter.
Erdoğan also said he submitted some CIA documents which suggested that Şahin is a "terrorist".
"The CIA also documented him as a terrorist and they sent us these documents, and then we presented them to Mr. President today. We also returned the letter likewise," Erdoğan added, without elaborating how the intelligence organization provided the documents to Ankara.
Trump: We will hopefully resolve the S-400 situation
Trump said the discussions were "wonderful" during the press conference that took place an hour after its original start time due to protracted conversations.
"The US-Turkish alliance can be a powerful force for security and stability, not only in the Middle East but beyond. I look forward to working with you," Trump said, referring to Erdoğan.
The US president hailed Turkey as a "great NATO ally" after he and Erdoğan discussed a range of topics that spanned an ongoing row over Ankara's acquisition of the Russian S-400 anti-air system, the F-35 joint strike fighter, bilateral trade and a pause in Turkey's operation in northern Syria.
Trump said he and Erdoğan have directed their senior officials to "immediately work on resolving the S-400 issue."
Turkey's acceptance of the S-400, Trump said, "creates some very serious challenges for us, and we are talking about it constantly."
"We talked about it today. We will talk about it in the future. Hopefully, we'll be able to resolve that situation," he said.
Turkey launched the "Operation Peace Spring" on October 9 to remove the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) and the SDF from northeast Syria.
On October 17, the US and Turkey came to an agreement to pause the operation to allow the withdrawal of the Kurdish forces from the planned safe zone, where Ankara wants to repatriate millions of Syrian refugees it is currently hosting. (EKN/VK)
