Turkey cannot accept Trump adviser's comments on Kurdish fighters, Erdogan says

Turkey cannot accept Trump adviser's comments on Kurdish fighters, Erdogan says
FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, December 20, 2018. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo Copyright Umit Bektas(Reuters)
Copyright Umit Bektas(Reuters)
By Reuters
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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey cannot accept recent comments from U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser that Ankara must agree to protect Washington's Kurdish allies in Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Erdogan, speaking to members of his AK Party in parliament, said John Bolton had made "serious mistake" in calling for a new condition for the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, and that Turkey could never compromise on the issue of the YPG Kurdish militia.

Turkey sees the YPG, which the United States has backed in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, as a terrorist organisation and part of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

(Reporting by Gulsen Solaker; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Dominic Evans)

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