|
Erdogan: US' Bolton 'seriously mistaken' on Syrian Kurd fighters
[Aljazeera] Turkish leader blasts US adviser Bolton over security demands for Kurdish militia in Syria in turn for US withdrawal.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday denounced comments by a senior American official urging protection for Kurdish allies as "seriously mistaken". US National Security Adviser John Bolton held talks in Ankara with Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and other officials on the handling of armed groups in northern Syria and the US's planned pullout of its forces there. A joint press briefing scheduled to take place was abruptly cancelled and Bolton was set to depart Turkey without meeting Erdogan in a likely snub over disagreements about Kurdish fighters. During his visit to Israel on Sunday, Bolton set conditions for the US pullout from Syria that included Turkey guaranteeing the safety of the Kurdish militia that spearheaded the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). "We cannot accept the message Bolton gave from Israel, we cannot be deceived by it," Erdogan said in a speech to his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputies. Trump announced the withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops from Syria last month in a statement that shocked many politicians in Washington, along with Western and Kurdish allies who fought alongside the US in the war-torn country. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-01-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=531488 |