Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may use an electoral defeat of incumbent Donald Trump as a pretext for another invasion of northeastern Syria, American global conflict analyst and Kurdish studies expert Dr. Thoreau Redcrow told North Press in an exclusive statement.
“Erdogan knows that those two and a half months will be his last chance to attack America’s Kurdish allies in Syria before a Biden presidency would take over and prevent such an action,” Redcrow explained.
Trump has a less than desirable record when it comes to the Syrian Kurds. Despite telling a concerned Syrian Kurdish official Ilham Ahmed “I love the Kurds” in a January 2019 meeting, in October of the same year Trump made the decision to withdraw US troops from the region, paving the way for the Turkish offensive on the border cities of Ras al-Ayn and Tel Abyad.
Even those in the Trump administration were shocked and upset by this sudden policy change. Both the US Special Envoy for the International Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), Brett McGurk, and former Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest of the withdrawal decision, with McGurk stating that the decision “came as a shock and was a complete reversal of policy” which “left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered”, adding that the pullout may lead to a second resurgence of ISIS in the area.
Redcrow suggests that Trump’s inconsistent policy on Turkey and northern Syria may have to do with his personal interests in Turkey. “It has been reported that Erdogan personally telephoned Trump up to twice a week in the past,” Redcrow elaborated, adding that, “Trump himself has admitted that he has a ‘conflict of interest’ with Turkey, because of his Trump Towers in Istanbul.”
“Biden is on record of being critical of Trump’s decision to betray the YPG/SDF and allow Turkey’s invasion in October 2019, and Erdogan knows that he will never again have a US President who is so subservient to his interests and susceptible to his lies, as Trump has been,” Redcrow added.
Redcrow further explained that should Trump suffer a defeat in the elections on Nov. 3, 2020, this would give Turkey a 78-day window, until Biden takes power on Jan. 20, 2021, to launch a new invasion of northern Syria and occupy more of the region before Biden puts a stop to any further Turkish progress in the area.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
