Trump’s remarks about Turkey highlights his ‘arrogance’: Analyst

US President Donald Trump’s remarks about Turkey’s military offensive in Syria underscores his “arrogance” and “incompetence” and is a manifestation of American imperialism, says an American political analyst.

Trump on Thursday compared the deadly attack by the Turkish military on Syrian Kurds to a schoolyard fight after praising a ceasefire agreed to earlier in the day.

“Donald Trump’s comments likening the Turkish and Kurdish as a schoolyard fight is so indicative of the ugly American imperialism and Western intervention in the Middle East,” said Rodney Martin, a former congressional staffer based in Arizona.

“It also demonstrates Donald Trump’s arrogance and lack of understanding,” Martin told Press TV on Friday.

“It’s important to note that Donald Trump’s incompetence is just one very minor problem of the American Middle East policy,” he added.

While speaking at a election rally in Dallas, Texas, Trump described his approach to the situation between the Turks and Kurds as "unconventional."

The long-simmering conflict between Turkey and the Kurds exploded into a military attack after Trump gave the green light to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this month.

"Sometimes you have to let them fight," Trump told his supporters. "Like two kids in a lot, then you pull them apart."

Trump also praised the temporary cease-fire that Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reached with Erdogan.

Pence said on Thursday that Turkey agreed to end the military offensive in northern Syria after Kurdish fighters withdraw from Erdogan’s desired safe zone in Syria near the Turkish border, where the Turkish leader wants to relocate the estimated two million Syrian refugees who are in Turkey.

PressTV-Trump likens Turkish offensive to schoolyard fight

US President Donald Trump has likened Turkey's military offensive against Syrian Kurds to a schoolyard fight.

Turkey last week began pounding the positions of Kurdish fighters with jets and artillery and sent in troops to purge them from the area east of Euphrates.

The offensive came three days after Trump announced he would pull US troops from the region, effectively exposing its allied Kurdish militants to their archenemy, Turkey.

Trump's move to withdraw troops from Syria was widely condemned by both Republican and Democratic Party lawmakers in Congress.

On Thursday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government will respond through all legitimate means available to the Turkish offensive.

During a meeting with visiting Iraqi National Security Advisor Falih al-Fayyadh in Damascus, Assad said foreign schemes in the Middle East region have been foiled throughout history, and the Turkish criminal aggression, launched by Erdogan’s administration, on Syria falls within such plots.

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