ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused former US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barrack Obama of not fulfilling the promise they’d made to Ankara to compel the Kurdish Self-Defence Forces (YPG) from Manbij in Syria’s Aleppo Governorate.
Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish journalists – returning to Turkey after an official visit to the Vatican and Italy – according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, “Obama deceived Turkey on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish militants in Manbij, and Trump follows the same path. Trump told us that they cannot stay there and head east from the Euphrates. He acknowledged that the Arabs are the real rulers of Manbij. But what he promised was not fulfilled.”
He added that there are many refugees in Turkey from Manbij who want to return to their homeland, and “Manbij will find his real rulers”.
Relations between Turkey and the US are experiencing a serious crisis because of the military support provided by Washington to YPG, which is considered by Turkey to be affiliated with the Kurdistan’s Workers’ Party (PKK), regarded by Ankara as a terrorist organization.
Ankara since January 20 has been conducting an operation in Afrin, codenamed “Olive Branch,” against Kurdish fighters, in response to the US announcement of training a 30,000-strong border security force in Syria, which Ankara considers as a “terrorist army.”
