Turkey’s Ambassador to U.S. Trashes Trump’s Letter to Erdogan: ‘Frankly Speaking, I Hope History Will Not Record’ It

Serdar Kilic, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S., appeared on PBS to slam President Donald Trump’s now-infamous “don’t be a fool” message that he sent to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 9, telling NewsHour host Judy Woodruff that he hopes “history” does not remember the letter.

“Very frankly speaking, I hope history will not record that letter,” the Turkish diplomat said on Thursday while being asked if the letter pressured Trump. “That letter should not have been sent in the first place.”

“Frankly speaking, I hope history will not record that letter,” he added again. “That letter should not have been sent in the first place, because it lacks all the niceties, and it’s void of any established practices in that regard. I hope history is not going to record it in any case, in any way.”

When asked about Erdoğan’s response to the letter, Kilic simply pointed to Turkey’s recent invasion of Kurdish territory in northern Syria: “Well our reaction was given in Syria. We started conducting the operation.”

Woodruff then brought up reports that state Erdoğan threw a physical copy of the letter into a trash can, Kilic deflected from confirming the colorful anecdote but noted that Turkey saw the “letter as null and void” immediately after receiving it.

The body of the White House’s letter included a stern warning advising Erdoğan not to launch an invasion against the Kurds.

“You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy – and I will,” Trump wrote. “History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen.”

“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen,” he added after calling for a “peaceful resolution” instead. “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”

Watch above, via PBS.