ANKARA: Turkey on Monday vowed it would not be intimidated by US President Donald Trump’s threats of economic devastation if Ankara attacks Kurdish forces as American troops withdraw.

Trump’s threat came after Ankara repeatedly threatened a new cross-border operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which have been working closely with the United States in the war on Islamic State (IS) extremists.

US support for the YPG has been a major source of tension between the Nato allies.

“We have said repeatedly we are not scared of and will not be intimidated by any threats,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, adding: “Economic threats against Turkey will get nowhere.”

Trump on Sunday warned the US would “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds”.

While there have been tensions over American training of the YPG under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, there appeared to be some improvement on the issue after Trump said last month 2,000 American troops would withdraw from Syria.

Ankara welcomed the pullout decision after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Trump in a phone call that Turkey could finish off the last remnants of IS.

Trump had also pushed for the creation of a 30-kilometre “safe zone”.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday said talks were under way on Washington’s proposal to establish the zone in flashpoint border areas of northeastern Syria.

“We want to make sure that the folks who fought with us to down the [IS group] have security ... and also that terrorists acting out of Syria aren’t able to attack Turkey,” Pompeo said in Riyadh.

Cavusoglu earlier said that Turkey was “not against” a “security zone” in Syria, during a press conference in Ankara.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara would “continue to fight against them all”, referring to IS and the YPG.

Kalin added it was “a fatal mistake to equate Syrian Kurds with the PKK”.

There has been growing friction between Turkey and the US over the fate of the YPG, especially after Pompeo this month said Washington would ensure Turkey would not “slaughter” Kurds.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2019