Trump announces permanent ceasefire in Syria and will release Turkey from sanctions
- IHRC NEWSROOM
- Oct 28, 2019
- 2 min read
President Trump announced Wednesday that an agreement to a permanent ceasefire has been reached that will suspend Turkish military operations in northern Syria.
A 120-hour ceasefire was agreed to last week when Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Turkey to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and discuss the end of military attacks on Kurdish forces in Syria. The temporary ceasefire was meant to give the Kurdish troops time to vacate the region and move away from the Turkish border.
Trump lauded the temporary measure saying it was an “amazing outcome.” He also praised Turkey for their part in the negotiation. “You would have lost millions and millions of lives. They couldn’t get it without a little tough love, as I called it … they needed a little bit of that at the beginning. When those guns start shooting, they tend to do things, but I will tell you, on behalf of the United States, I want to thank Turkey, I want to thank all of the people that have gotten together and made this happen. This is an incredible outcome.”
Trump teased his announcement in an early morning tweet on Wednesday: “Big success on the Turkey/Syria Border. Safe Zone created! Ceasefire has held and combat missions have ended. Kurds are safe and have worked very nicely with us. Captured ISIS prisoners secured. I will be making a statement at 11:00 A.M. from the White House. Thank you!”
The Wednesday announcement marks a permanent deal, and the government of Turkey agreeing to that would effectively end combat operations in the region. “The sanctions will be lifted, unless something happens that we’re not happy with,” Trump said of the economic restrictions he implemented after Turkish aggression against Kurdish forces.
Trump also described the 22-mile zone on the Syrian border with Turkey as a “safe zone.” The president also reaffirmed his position that there should not be U.S. military presence in the region. He also thanked Pence and Pompeo for their delegation last week that resulted in the ceasefire that allowed the Kurds to leave the safe zone.
“ISIS is under very, very strict lock-and-key,” the president also said, attempting to dissuade concerns that detention centers containing Islamic State militants would be at risk of repopulating terrorist groups in the region.
“I am committed to pursuing a different course; one that leads to victory for America,” Trump said, while decrying years-long wars involving the U.S. throughout the Middle East. “More than half a million people are dead … it is a nightmare of misery,” the president said of U.S. troops killed over the course of the past two decades. Trump also tied immigration and border security into his vision for overhauling foreign policy. “My administration understands that immigration security is national security,” he said.
Underscoring his belief that the U.S. should stay away from costly, long foreign conflicts, Trump asserted the goal of staying out of the Middle East whenever possible. “We need a plan for victory,” he said. “The job of our military is not to police the world.”
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