‘Kurds are no angels… PKK worse than ISIS’ says Donald Trump

by Abi
Oct 17, 2019

US President Donald Trump has defended his decision to withdraw American troops from the Kurdish regions of norther Syria, stating it was “strategically brilliant”, whilst lashing out at the Kurds in the region.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said the Kurds were “not angels” and said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were “probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways than" Islamic State.

He also commented on Kurdish militants who fought Islamic State alongside US soldiers, stating they were “not angels”.

"They fought with us. We made a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's OK," he said. "They did well when they fought with us. They didn't do so well when they didn't fight with us."

Trump added that the conflict in Syria was "not our problem". 

Following the US withdrawal from the region, Turkey launched a military offensive that has killed dozens of civilians so far, with a reported 160,000 people fleeing their homes.

See more on Al Jazeera here and the BBC here.

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