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Trump invites Erdogan to White House as northeast Syria shudders

US President Donald Trump announced that he will host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in November as his move to pull US troops out of Syria continues to sow chaos along the Syrian-Turkish border.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium July 11, 2018.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RC117DD2EDF0

A day after threatening to obliterate its economy if Turkey attacked the Kurds, US President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be “coming to the US as my guest on November 13th,” and reminded his audience of Turkey’s importance as a trading partner and NATO member. He also thanked Turkey for freeing Andrew Brunson, the North Carolina pastor it held hostage for nearly two years. Trump punctuated his tweets with his pet hashtag “#ENDENDLESSWARS,” a further sign that he wants to pull US troops out of Syria.

The olive branch will have sowed further confusion in the minds of the United States’ Syrian Kurdish allies who staged noisy protests along the Turkish border today, many vowing to resist the Turkish army with their lives if need be as their commanders prepared for all-out war.

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