Trump right on Syria, US pullout must be done with right partners: Erdogan
Tehran (KNA) - The Turkish leader says US President Donald Trump’s plan to pull military forces out of Syria should be put into action carefully and with the “right partners,” saying Turkey is the only country that can help its NATO ally get the job done.
In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his American counterpart "made the right call" last month to withdraw some 2,000 US forces from Syria.
The withdrawal, Erdogan said, "must be planned carefully and performed in cooperation with the right partners to protect the interests of the United States, the international community and the Syrian people."
"Turkey, which has NATO's second largest standing army, is the only country with the power and commitment to perform that task," Erdogan wrote.
The Turkish head of state further warned the international community against repeating the same mistakes Washington and its allies had made in Iraq.
Trump has said that the US is leaving Syria because the mission to defeat the Daesh terror group has been accomplished.
"The lesson of Iraq, where this terrorist group was born, is that premature declarations of victory and the reckless actions they tend to spur create more problems than they solve," Erdogan wrote.
He went on to say, "The first step is to create a stabilization force featuring fighters from all parts of Syrian society. Only a diverse body can serve all Syrian citizens and bring law and order to various parts of the country."
Source: PressTV