"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 a guarantee to Kurds, who tried to get guarantees from the US, but failed, since the 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," Syrian lawmaker Ahmad Merhi told Sputnik on Thursday.
READ MORE: Turkey Vows to Start Offensive in E Euphrates if US Pullout From Syria Stalled
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.
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 fulfil its promises regarding the withdrawal of the YPG from Syria's Manbij.
