Syrian Kurds Can No Longer Rely On US, Should Ask Damascus For Protection -Syrian Lawmaker

Syrian Kurds Can No Longer Rely on US, Should Ask Damascus for Protection -Syrian Lawmaker

The United States has abandoned Syrian Kurds after years of support, and Damascus is now the only actor that can protect them from Turkey's military campaign, Syrian lawmaker Ahmad Merhi told Sputnik on Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2019) The United States has abandoned Syrian Kurds after years of support, and Damascus is now the only actor that can protect them from Turkey's military campaign, Syrian lawmaker Ahmad Merhi told Sputnik on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to meet with US National Security Adviser John Bolton after the latter said that, despite the announced troop withdrawal, the US military would not leave Syria until Turkey agreed not to attack US-allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. The Turkish authorities called the US official's demands a "huge mistake" and vowed to continue the war against Kurdish forces, which Ankara deems as terrorists.

"Kurds have a chance to come back to the Syrian state and to hold serious dialogue, as well as to take part in national dialogue [instead] of fighting. Here I can say that only Syrian state can give guarantee to Kurds, who tried to get guarantees from US but failed since US cannot give them this guarantee ... In fact, according to local sources, the US troops had started going out of Manbij city, before they announced that it won't go out of Syria to save Kurds. The fact is that the US has abandoned them," Merhi said.

US President Donald Trump announced troop withdrawal in December. However, Washington has not established a time line for the pullout, and has stressed that the US-led international coalition's fight against terrorism in the region will continue.

Turkey and the United States have had tense relations in recent years, in part due to Ankara's concerns over US support for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), viewed by the Turkish authorities as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey. Ankara has also repeatedly accused Washington of failing to fulfill its promises regarding the withdrawal of the YPG from Syria's Manbij.