Donald Trump’s top security aide was snubbed by Turkey’s president on Tuesday, striking a blow to Washington’s efforts to contain the fallout from a plan to withdraw US troops from Syria.
John Bolton, White House national security adviser, had hoped to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his two-day visit to Ankara as part of a rearguard effort to reassure American allies and secure the safety of Kurdish forces in Syria following last month’s abrupt announcement that US soldiers would depart.
Instead, he found himself on the receiving end of a blistering attack by Mr Erdogan, who accused him of making a “serious mistake” in asking Turkey not to attack Kurdish militants in comments to reporters in Jerusalem before his arrival.
“We cannot swallow . . . the message that Bolton gave in Israel,” the Turkish president said, adding that he “probably doesn’t know” the difference between ethnic Kurds and armed Kurdish groups.
The Turkish president repeated a vow to launch a military assault against the Kurdish YPG militia. The group played a leading role in the campaign against Isis jihadis in Syria, and received US weapons and training in return. But it is viewed in Ankara as a threat to Turkey’s security and faces an attack from Turkish armed forces after US troops leave. “We will do what is necessary against these terrorists,” Mr Erdogan said.
Mr Bolton and his delegation instead met Ibrahim Kalin, Mr Erdogan’s spokesman and one of his most trusted aides. “They had a productive discussion of the president’s decision to withdraw at a proper pace from north-east Syria,” Garrett Marquis, US National Security Council spokesman, said in a statement.
However, US officials were deprived of the chance to meet Mr Erdogan. Speaking to reporters, the Turkish president said there was “no need” for him to see Mr Bolton, adding that the national security adviser’s counterpart was Mr Kalin.
Mr Bolton’s difficult visit to Turkey deepens the uncertainty over the future of the Syrian conflict in the wake of Mr Trump’s announcement that Isis had been defeated and US troops would pull out.
Mr Trump’s words unnerved not only key US allies in the Middle East but also many in his own administration, who fear it strengthens Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his backers Iran and Russia, as well as leaving Kurdish forces in danger.
Mr Bolton, one of the Trump administration’s most hawkish voices on Iran, previously said that US troops would stay in Syria for the foreseeable future to counter Tehran’s influence in the country.
He and other senior officials have in the weeks since Mr Trump’s announcement sought to reassure allies and cobble together a plan for protecting US interests.
Yet even before Mr Bolton’s arrival in Ankara, analysts had warned that Turkey would be unwilling to accept his plan to secure the safety of Kurdish groups.
Some analysts believe that Mr Erdogan may now seek a deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Mr Assad’s most important military and diplomatic backer. The Turkish president is due to travel to Moscow next week.
