Turkey agrees ceasefire in Syria, prompting Donald Trump to celebrate ‘tough love’ at rally
- Trump paved the way for the week-long Turkish incursion by withdrawing US troops
- He celebrated the deal and insisted it had been wise for him to allow Turkish forces to invade and attack Kurds
Addressing a rally in Dallas, Texas, Trump celebrated the deal and insisted it had been wise for him to allow Turkish forces to invade and attack Kurds because “sometimes you have to let them fight a little while”.
“Like two kids in a lot, you’ve got to let them fight and then you pull them apart,” Trump said. He marvelled at the fighting, saying “it was pretty vicious,” and adding: “It was nasty. . . . It’s not fun having bullets going all over the place.”
Trump defended his handling of the situation because, as he saw it, he had given the Turks and Kurds a lesson in “tough love”.
“Without a little tough love – you know what tough love is, right? – they would’ve never made this deal,” he said.
Under the deal reached after Pence flew to Ankara, Kurdish forces will have to withdraw from an area 32km deep, becoming a “safe zone” long sought by Turkey, which brands the fighters as “terrorists”.