"Don't be silly," Donald Trump warned his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an extraordinary letter sent the day Turkey launched its raid in northeastern Syria: the warning story risked calling it a "demon."
Read: United States will withdraw troops while Turkey launches operation in Syria: White House
Three days after appearing to give the green light to an invasion by withdrawing US troops from the Kurdish-dominated region, Trump told the Turkish president that he would destroy Ankara's economy if the invasion went too far.
In a language devoid of diplomatic subtleties, Trump began with an absolute threat.
"Let's make a good deal," Trump wrote in the October 9 letter.
"You don't want to be responsible for killing thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy, and I will."
"History will look favorably on you if you do this in the right and humane way," Trump said.
"He will consider you forever as the devil if good things don't happen."
The US leader told Erdogan that "a great deal" would be possible if he negotiated with the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces led by the Kurds, Mazloum Abdi, whom Turkey has described as "terrorist" for his ties with the Kurdish militants of the PKK in Turkey.
"Don't be a tough guy. Don't be silly," he concluded, adding: "I'll call you later."
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1511351/trump-letter-to-erdogan-dont-be-a-fool