President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE, erstwhile businessman and "Art of the Deal" author, casts himself as a master negotiator. But experts say Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan got the best of Trump in negotiations over Syria.





“I don’t understand what the Turks gave up, and I don’t think they gave up anything,” said Eric Edelman, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey under the George W. Bush administration.

ADVERTISEMENT

From the moment Trump decided to pull U.S. troops from northern Syria after a call with Erdoğan, paving the way for Turkey to move forward with its long-threatened offensive against Syria Kurdish forces, experts say Erdoğan outmaneuvered Trump. A cease fire deal being hailed as a victory by Trump and Vice President Pence gave Erdoğan something he’s wanted for years — a zone in Syria that Turkey will have control over, essentially extending the Turkish border 20 miles south.“I don’t understand what the Turks gave up, and I don’t think they gave up anything,” said Eric Edelman, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey under the George W. Bush administration.From the moment Trump decided to pull U.S. troops from northern Syria after a call with Erdoğan, paving the way for Turkey to move forward with its long-threatened offensive against Syria Kurdish forces, experts say Erdoğan outmaneuvered Trump.

After the call, but before Erdoğan launched the operation, Trump sent him a letter saying, “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” according to a copy revealed this week.

A senior adviser to Erdoğan told NPR the letter was “absolutely irrelevant.” Former Turkish ambassador to the U.S. Namik Tan on Friday tweeted a New Yorker cartoon mocking Trump’s letter to Erdoğan with a similar letter to Santa Claus.

Erdoğan himself was more serious, saying Friday that the letter violated “political and diplomatic courtesy” and ominously warning that “when the time comes, we would like it to be known that we will take the necessary steps” to respond.

Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Trump lost his leverage to negotiate with both the Turks and the Kurds after the withdrawal and then the letter.

“In buttoning your shirt, if you start out wrong, it’ll be wrong at the end,” Aliriza said. “They’re denying it strenuously within the administration, but everything that happened, happened because of the phone call on the 6th.”