US national security adviser to leave Turkey without a meeting , Erdogan
US national security adviser John Bolton left Turkey on Tuesday without meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, deepening tensions between Washington and Ankara over not compromising Syria’s US-backed democratic forces.
It seems that Bolton’s departure for Ankara without a meeting with Erdogan came after his failure to secure assurances from Ankara not to attack Syria’s democratic forces in the event of a US withdrawal from Syria.
Turkey has denied Erdogan has pledged to his US counterpart Donald Trump to “protect” Kurdish militants in Syria, as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.
“With regard to Pompeo’s statements, it is absolutely inconceivable that such a guarantee was given during talks between Erdogan and Trump or through other channels,” said Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.
In an opinion piece published in the New York Times, Erdogan said that Turkey was committed to “defeating a pro-Syrian organization and other terrorist groups” in Syria, apparently referring to Syria’s democratic forces.
The Syrian Democratic Forces are mainly formed by Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which Ankara regards as a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey for years.
Shafaaq.com
BGG:
1) This isn’t a pro-Trump Rah, Rah rant… just some observations.
2) John Bolton is political PLAYER. He is no one to be trifled with. If he left, there was a reason.
3) I imagine Pompeo has some factual basis for his comments regarding what Erdogan said to President Trump. Why would he make up such a FANTASTICAL story?
4) Erdogan should step carefully… if, in fact, he did offer such support, he should beware that President Trump – if NOTHING ELSE, can be unpredictable.
5) I have a hard time reconciling this as well… did no one on his staff explain to President Trump the level of “bad guy” he was dealing with in Erdogan?
Lest anyone forget… we all watched a couple of years ago, he staged a “faux-coup” which he used to “purge” nearly 6,000 military officers he didn’t trust from his own military. Erdogan is one bad actor.
6) It’s curious how the media seems to always land on the wrong side of things… which wouldn’t happen if they would just READ THE NEWS (note above: Kurdish “militants” – not “freedom fighters”).
7) In conclusion – right or wrong, we can probably do whatever we were doing from a fire base (aka – U.S. Embassy) in Iraq or from a carrier group just as easily… should the need arise.
8) Erdogan’s persecution of the PKK and the PPU is nothing more than war he’s waging against his political rivals.
Think of how that would go over here… if political rivals tried to exterminate one another. Let’s hope some level of dignity somehow returns to ALL BRANCHES of our government.
