Turkey rebuffs Bolton on safety of Kurds in Syria

ankara — A senior US official trying to negotiate the safety of Kurdish allies in northeastern Syria was apparently rebuffed by Turkey’s president who said on Tuesday there would be ‘no concession’ in Ankara’s push against what he describes as terror groups in the war-torn country.

White House national security adviser John Bolton met for roughly two hours with his Turkish counterpart Ibrahim Kalin and other senior officials at Ankara’s presidency complex but got no assurances on the safety of Syrian Kurdish allies — a condition for President Donald Trump’s planned withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria.

Bolton relayed Trump’s insistence that Turkey refrain from attacking Kurdish forces that fought alongside US troops against the Daesh group, a guarantee Turkey appeared unwilling to grant.

“They had a productive discussion of the President’s decision to withdraw at a proper pace from Northeast Syria,” spokesman Garrett Marquis said, adding that direct military to military talks would continue on Tuesday.

Shortly after Bolton’s meetings and in an apparent snub to the US diplomatic push, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara’s preparations for a new military

Ibrahim Kalin (right) speaking with John Bolton in Ankara on Tuesday. —

offensive against terror groups are ‘to a large extent’ complete.

“We cannot make any concessions,” Erdogan said, and also slammed Bolton over comments suggesting the United States would prevent attacks on Kurds.

Turkey insists its military actions are aimed at Kurdish fighters in Syria — the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG — whom it regards as terrorists, and not against the Kurdish people. That has been Ankara longtime position and Turkey rejected any role for Kurdish fighters in restoring peace to the war-torn region.—