(CNN)US National Security Advisor John Bolton made “a serious mistake” telling reporters that the United States would only pull out of Syria if Turkey pledged not to attack its Kurdish allies there, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday.
“Bolton’s remarks in Israel are not acceptable. It is not possible for me to swallow this,” Erdogan said during a speech in parliament. “Bolton made a serious mistake. If he thinks that way, he is in a big mistake. We will not compromise.”
The extraordinary public rebuke comes as the US has been sending starkly divergent messages on Syria and signals further tension in the US-Turkey relationship. President Donald Trump announced late last month that the US had defeated ISIS in Syria and was pulling its 2,000 troops out of the country “now.”
