ANKARA, Turkey — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demonstrated his political skills today when he eschewed attacking the US president for threatening Turkey and changed the Syrian debate from wiping out the Kurdish militia to erecting a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border.
Erdogan spoke a day after President Donald Trump posted a tweet about the US withdrawal from Syria, in which he threatened to "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds.” The comment provoked an outcry. Opposition politicians and centrist media joined the government in condemning Trump for his heavy-handedness.