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TEHRAN, Jan 8 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed as a "grave mistake" comments by White House National Security adviser John Bolton over the Syrian Kurdish militia, highlighting tensions between Ankara and Washington.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Erdogan's comments came shortly after Bolton held more than two hours of talks in the Turkish capital with Erdogan's adviser Ibrahim Kalin, in a key meeting focusing on the surprise US decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.
"It is not possible to accept or swallow the message given by Bolton from Israel," Erdogan told his party's lawmakers in parliament.
Tensions erupted ahead of the Ankara talks after Bolton said Sunday in Israel the retreat was also conditional on the safety of US-backed Kurdish fighters, considered terrorists by Turkey.
A furious Erdogan said: "John Bolton has made a grave mistake on this issue."
US President Donald Trump caused a political storm last month when he announced the troop pullout because the battle against the Islamic State (IS) group had been won.
"President Trump made the right call to withdraw from Syria," Erdogan said in a column published in the New York Times, outlining Turkey's "comprehensive strategy" to eliminate the causes of radicalisation in the war-torn country.
Source: AFP
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