Turkey's Erdogan shuts down White House's Bolton on Syria, says he made a 'serious mistake'

[UpInArms]

Source: CNBC

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a blunt put-down against White House national security advisor John Bolton over his pledges to ensure Turkish non-aggression against Kurds who fought against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

"We cannot accept Bolton's messages given from Israel," the Turkish president said on Tuesday morning, adding that Bolton made a "serious mistake," Reuters reported.

He was referring to statements by the senior Trump administration official, made from Israel over the weekend, promising safety for the U.S.-allied Kurdish militias — who dominate areas in Northern Syria and whom the Turks view as terrorists — in the event of a U.S. military withdrawal.

... snip ...

Erdogan stressed that the YPG and the PYD cannot be representative of Kurds, adding that Bolton "probably doesn't know" who the two groups are. He also described Turkey as facing a "critical juncture" in Syria, with whom it shares a 500-mile border.


Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/01/08/turkeys-erdogan-shuts-down-white-houses-bolton-on-syria.html

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. They thought they could play footsie with a dictator.

[olegramps]

11. Turkey wants the U.S troops out so he can crush the Kurds. This has been their objective for years.

[watoos]

2. Oh boy, what's Donnie to do?

Putin wants withdrawal and Bibi says stay. Whatcha gonna do Cadet Bone Spurs?

[atreides1]

3. Well

He'll pull out slowly...just like his father did...

[nycbos]

5. I doubt this is Bibi's fault.

This is just an islamic dictator using the "when all else fails blame the Jews" strategy.


For the record I am no fan of Bibi.

[watoos]

7. Oh but this is about Bibi,

Don't you see, Russia/Iran is involved. If we pull out Iran gets involved in the region.

Russia/Iran/Turkey/Assad are vying against Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Russia wants Gazprom to be the investor/operator of an Iran/Iraq/Syria natural gas pipeline to supply gas to the EU. Qatar has a lot of natural gas, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel wants the Qatar gas pipeline but it has to go through Syria and Assad will not allow it. This is why people want to oust Assad. Assad is a brutal butcher but he never gassed his own people, Saudi Arabia was involved in that. The civil war in Syria is about money. It's also about Sunni v Shia. The US has taken the side of the Sunnis, Putin entered the mix and took the side of the Shias.
Trump is friends with both Putin and Bibi, so who is going to win out? Should I go or should I stay?

[karynnj]

13. Did Assad use barrel bombs on his people?

Assad did gas his people in 2014. There were Russians .. and Russian trolls ... who disputed that.

[Iliyah]

9. Give him something else per Russia's request.

[still_one]

4. Ironically this all stems from the Bush, Cheney, Bolton, Rumsfeld, etc. policy to invade Iraq based

on a lie. That incursion destabilized the entire region, and brought us to where we are today.

[Cold War Spook]

6. This was their public statement.

Their private statement to him was they won't attack the Kurds. Bolton will bring this back to Trump. Trump will say that is great and pull our troops out of Syria. The following week, Turkey will attack the Kurds. One of the most dangerous situations I have been in is in Turkey during an election. The army favored one man and the air force another. The only safe place I could find was in the kerhane in Ankara. After 2 weeks I figured I could leave.

[watoos]

8. If so, Bibi will not be happy.

[Iliyah]

10. Bibi help caused the problem.

shithole gave Iran an opening in Syria once the US troops leave.

[Eugene]

12. Erdogan chides Bolton and calls on US to hand over Syria bases

Source: The Guardian

Erdoğan chides Bolton and calls on US to hand over Syria bases

US security chief tempers withdrawal claims, jeopardising Turkey’s plans to target Kurdish groups

Martin Chulov
Tue 8 Jan 2019 12.22 GMT First published on Tue 8 Jan 2019 12.10 GMT

Turkey has asked Washington to hand over its bases in Syria as the Trump administration appeared to reverse plans to withdraw from the country’s north-east on Tuesday, jeopardising Ankara’s plans to launch a widespread military operation targeting Kurdish groups.

The fresh row between the two Nato allies broke out as the US national security adviser, John Bolton, was in Ankara to row back on a surprise announcement by Donald Trump in December that US forces would leave imminently, abandoning Kurdish proxies who had led its ground war against the Islamic State terror group. Turkey views those same Kurdish groups as mortal foes.

In a scathing speech to parliament, delivered while Bolton was still in the Turkish capital, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the US envoy had “made a serious mistake” and that Turkey would never agree to a compromise that protected the Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, whose members helped a US-led coalition push Isis out of most of Syria’s east.

“Elements of the US administration are saying different things,” said Erdoğan. “The YPG and the PKK can never be representatives of the Kurdish people.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/08/erdogan-us-bolton-turkey-syria-withdrawal-kurdish

[hedda_foil]

14. Who could have imagined in 2016 that the dictator of Turkey of all people...

Would hold the reins of the National Security Director of the United States and dictate policy to the "president"?

[lanlady]

15. It's not just his reins he's holding

Erdogan has Bolton and Trump by the balls. And man, is he squeezing 'em hard.

[hedda_foil]

18. You said it lanlady!

[UpInArms]

16. It is enough to make one cry, hedda

What a fucked up mess
🤦🏽?♀️

[JackRiddler]

17. Pretty soon Assad won't look as bad.