Turkey accuses US of failing to abide by deal on Syrian town
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ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's president in remarks published Friday accused the United States of failing to abide by a deal for a US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia to withdraw from a town it had liberated from Islamic State militants in northern Syria.
Washington and Ankara struck the deal in June to defuse tensions. It calls for the militia to leave the strategic town of Manbij and for joint Turkish-US patrols there.
Ankara considers the Kurdish People's Protection Units or YPG militia a terror group that's part of a Kurdish insurgency within Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the US hasn't honored the agreed-on "roadmap" for Manbij. His comments were published in Hurriyet newspaper.
"America has not kept up with the roadmap and schedule for Manbij," Erdogan said. "The (YPG) has not left the region."
In the nearby province of Idlib, thousands of pro-Turkey protesters marched in the streets of towns and villages calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad's government.
