On Monday, Foreign Minister Mouloud Shaochoglu responded to US President Donald Trump's scorn for economic destruction, saying that Turkey had accepted the option of a safe zone in northern Syria.
"Nothing can be achieved by threatening Turkey economically," Shaooshoglu was quoted by Reuters as saying, adding that his country was "doing what is needed to maintain peace and prevent abuses in Idlib."
Trump's editorial came in the context of "domestic policies in the United States," stressing that "strategic partners should not communicate through social networks."
Trump warned Turkey on Sunday of an "economic disaster" if it launched an attack against the Kurds after the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, in conjunction with his call on the Kurds not to "provoke Ankara."
Safe area
"We will destroy Turkey economically if they attack the Kurds, we will establish a safe zone with 20 miles," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Likewise, we do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey."
It seems that Turkey did not want to go too far with Trump, the Foreign Minister stressed that it "is not against the existence of the idea of a safe area in Syria."
But the US president did not say who would create or pay for the safe area, nor did he specify where it would be built.
"Russia, Iran and Syria were the biggest beneficiaries of the long-term US policy of destroying a pro-Syrian organization," Trump said. "We have also benefited from this, but now is the time to get our troops home.
Turki refused
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected the US position to ensure the protection of Kurdish forces in the Syrian north with the withdrawal of the US military, and coincided with the presence of US national security adviser John Bolton in Ankara.
The differences between Washington and Ankara are related to the protection units of the Kurdish people.
Erdogan considers these units to be "terrorist", deliberately ignoring their major role in fighting a militant organization in recent years.
Ankara has repeatedly threatened in the past few weeks to launch an offensive to expel Kurdish fighters from the Syrian north and east of the Euphrates.
