President Donald Trump hailed the ceasefire agreement with Turkey on Thursday, noting that his unconventional approach had brought everything to a peaceful conclusion.
“It’s really a great day for civilization,” Trump said to reporters after landing in Dallas, Texas.
Vice President Mike Pence announced the agreement earlier Thursday, wherein Turkey had agreed to a 120-hour cease-fire in the 20-mile border “safe zone” until the YPG forces could be withdrawn following by a permanent cease-fire if the requirements had been met.
“I guess I’m an unconventional person, I took a lot of heat from a lot of people, even some of the people in my whole party,” Trump said.
Trump said that Turkey had a “legitimate problem” with the Kurds in the 20-mile safe-zone and that his unconventional approach had dislodged previous roadblocks to the deal.
He thanked the Kurds for their patience, saying that they were “incredibly happy with the solution,” as it would help save their lives.
“If we didn’t go this unconventional tough love approach, you could have never gotten it done,” Trump said.
He said that the Turkish invasion against the Kurds was uncomfortable, but that it had helped both parties reach a deal:
It had to be an unconventional solution … All of a sudden when they saw how nasty it was and how rough it would get, it would get 100 times worse than what was happening, when they saw the level of nastiness happening, they said, ‘Let’s make a deal.’
The president said he would remove the sanctions on Turkey after the agreement was finalized and seemed open to welcoming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the White House in November for his scheduled visit.
“What he did was very smart and it was great for the people of Turkey, and they’re lucky it was him making the decision,” he said.
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