01 July 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump’s calls with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have alarmed some White House officials, a report published by CNN has revealed.
Written by veteran journalist Carl Bernstein, the report claims Erdogan called “at least twice a week and was put through directly to the President on standing orders from Trump”.
Bernstein added that such conversations with world leaders including Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin showed that Trump “posed a danger to the national security of the United States” harmful for nationwide safety of America by some White House Officers as he does not fully prepare himself for the official phone calls.
Trump, sources quoted say, was “woefully uninformed about the history of the Syrian conflict and the Middle East generally, and said he was often caught off guard, and lacked sufficient knowledge to engage on equal terms in nuanced policy discussion with Erdogan. “Erdogan took him to the cleaners,” said one of the sources.”
They added that the US’ decision to withdraw troops from Syria in October last year, allowing Turkey to strike Kurdish posts in the north of the country “were directly linked to Erdogan’s ability to get his way with Trump on the phone calls”.
As a result of the revelations, the report highlighted “evidence of Trump’s general “unfitness” for the presidency on grounds of temperament and incompetence”.
The United States and Turkey are NATO allies but relations between the pair have been strained as they support opposing sides in the war in Syria, with the US backing the Kurds and Erdogan aiming to make a land corridor in northern Syria where Kurdish troops cannot be present.
Last year, The Turkish lira dropped to its weakest point since 2018 as Trump placed economic sanctions on Ankara in response to the country’s military operations in northern Syria.
