USA: Trump will 'wipe out' Turkish economy if Erdogan 'wipes out Kurds' in N.Syria

*BUG AT SOURCE* *NO CUTAWAYS AT SOURCE*
SOT, Journalist: "In a statement this morning you cautioned Erdogan, since then it appears as though there have been casualties on the Kurdish side. Are you concerned about escalation and are you concerned that Erdogan will try to wipe out the Kurds?"
Donald Trump, US President: "I will wipe out his economy if that happens. I've already done it once with Pastor Brunson. I'm sure that he, I hope that he will act rationally. You do have to understand they've been fighting each other for many, many decades, actually for centuries. They've been fighting each other."
SOT, Journalist: "Lindsey Graham is talking about imposing economic sanctions on Turkey over this incursion in Syria. What do you think about?"
Donald Trump, US President: "Well, I think it's OK. I've already told that to President Erdogan, far more than sanctions, I'll do far more than sanctions. Lindsey and I'd feel differently. I think Lindsey would like to stay there for the next 200 years and maybe add a couple hundred thousand people every place. But I disagree with Lindsey on that. But I will tell you that I do agree on sanctions. But I actually think much tougher than sanctions if he doesn't do it in as humane way as possible. But I've gotten him to stop for virtually from the first day that I was in office. But they've wanted to fight and that's the way it is and they've done it for so long."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "We have no soldiers in the area. We've been talking to Turkey for three years, they've been wanting to do this for many years, as you know. They've been fighting each other for centuries. They've been fighting each other for hundreds of years, this has been going on. We were put into this battle interjected it was supposed to be a 30-day period and we've been there for many many years and it's time to get out. We're speaking to both sides. We've told [Turkish] President Erdogan how we feel, but we are speaking to both sides and we're seeing what can be made out of a situation. But we have no soldiers in the area, you know. We're getting out of the endless wars. Have to do it and eventually somebody was going to have to make the decision. And frankly we're getting a lot of praise from that decision."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "Well, [ISIS militants] they're going to be escaping to Europe. That's where they want to go. They want to go back to their homes, but Europe didn't want them for months. We could have given it to them, they could have had trials they could have done whatever they wanted. But as usual it's not reciprocal. You know my favourite word — reciprocal. That's all I want. I don't want an edge. I just want reciprocal. And it's not reciprocal Steve. It's not a fair deal for the United States. And when President Obama took the PKK, you know, when they bring in PKK. That's a tough deal because that's been a mortal enemy of Turkey. So when you bring them in into a partnership it's a tough situation."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "Now the Kurds are fighting for the land, just so you understand, they're fighting for their land. And as somebody wrote in a very very powerful article today: they didn't help us in the Second World War, hey didn't help us with Normandy, as an example, they mentioned names of different battles. They were there but they're there to help us with their land. And that's a different thing. In addition to that, we have spent tremendous amounts of money on helping the Kurds, in terms of ammunition, in terms of weapons, in terms of money, in terms of pay. With all of that being said, we like the Kurds."
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "Well, we're going to have to see we're going to have to define that as we go along. They want to — if you listen to Erdogan — he wants to have people go back to where they came from. Go back to Syria. Right now he's holding, in all fairness to him, he's holding millions of people that would be all over the place if he wasn't holding them. So he wants to repatriate. He wants to have them go back into the area that he's looking at, but we'll see, we'll see how he does it. He could do it in a soft manner. He could do it in a very tough manner. And if he does it unfairly, he's going to pay a very big economic price."
SCRIPT
US President Donald Trump told journalists in Washington DC on Thursday, that he will wipe out Turkey's economy, if he tries to "wipe out" the Kurds in northern Syria, as part of its offensive dubbed 'Operation Peace Spring'.
"I will wipe out his economy if that happens. I've already done it once with Pastor Brunson. I'm sure that he, I hope that he will act rationally," said Trump.
"I do agree on sanctions. But I actually think much tougher than sanctions if he doesn't do it in as humane way as possible. But I've gotten him to stop for virtually from the first day that I was in office," said Trump.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the beginning of the operation to create a 'safe zone' cleared of US-backed Kurdish groups, which Ankara labels 'terrorists'.
According to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) press office, a total of eight people were killed and 20 others were injured during the strikes in northern Syria.