A threatening letter written by the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump to his counterpart the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Erdogan has made it way online and has received much criticism.
The letter, first obtained by a Fox Business reporter, was shorn of diplomatic niceties and began with an outright threat.
“Let’s work out a good deal!” Trump wrote in the letter dated 9 October, whose authenticity was confirmed to various news outlets by the White House.
Days after appearing to greenlight an invasion by pulling US troops from the Kurdish-dominated region, Trump told the Turkish president he would wreck Ankara’s economy if the invasion went too far.
“You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy – and I will,” he wrote.
“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way,” Trump continued. “It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen.”
“Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” he finished, adding: “I will call you later.”
The bizarre letter was met with incredulity, with many at first questioning its legitimacy and some calling it a “joke” and an “embarrassment”.
See the letter below:
See some reaction below:
This is 🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌 pic.twitter.com/wLfq9rgcyi
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) October 16, 2019
Per the same source, Trump handed out copies of the letter he'd sent to Erdogan at today's meeting in what was interpreted as an attempt to show everyone how tough he'd been.
— Jill Colvin (@colvinj) October 16, 2019
This is insane. pic.twitter.com/ERHXoQGqUS
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 16, 2019
