- Title: 'America abandoned us' - Kurds rip Erdogan portraits near U.S. embassy
- Date: 16th October 2019
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (OCTOBER 16, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ETHNIC KURDS MARCHING TOWARDS U.S.A. EMBASSY BUILDING PROTESTERS CHANTING (Kurdish): "(Turkish President Tayyip) Erdogan - terrorist. Long live Ukraine!" PROTESTERS MARCHING AND CHANTING (Kurdish): Long live Peshmerga (Kurdish armed forces)! Long live Kurdistan!" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS PASSING BY SIGN READING (ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN): "THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" KURDS MARCHING WITH FLAGS UNITED STATES NATIONAL FLAG SEEN BEHIND FENCE POLICE GUARDING EMBASSY / PROTESTERS CHANTING (Kurdish): "Erdogan - terrorist!" KURDISH PROTESTERS OUTSIDE EMBASSY POSTER PORTRAYING TURKISH PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN STANDING NEXT TO ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER READY TO BEHEAD KURDISH MAN MAN HOLDING POSTER AS PROTESTERS CHANT (Kurdish): "Erdogan is murderer!" MAN HOLDING POSTER PORTRAYING TURKISH PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN WITH BACKGROUND OF TURKISH AND ISLAMIC STATE FLAGS AND CHANTING (Kurdish): "Long live Peshmerga (Kurdish armed forces)! Long live Kurdistan!" MAN HOLDING POSTER READING (English): "#RISEUP4ROJAVA" WHILE PROTESTERS CHANT (Kurdish): "Long live Kurdistan!" (SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT, HASSAN HASSAN, SAYING: "America, the U.S.A. they just abandoned us. We worked together, we were fighting together, we were allies, we were fighting the ISIS, the biggest terror group in the whole world. It was against all humanity, against the world, they were just killing everybody and we fought them and we won. And now after we won, America abandoned us, and they left us to fight alone with the second most powerful NATO (army) in the world." PROTESTER TEARING TO PIECES PICTURE OF TURKISH PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN SIGN ON EMBASSY BUILDING READING (English): 'THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA' PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF EMBASSY MAN HOLDING FLAG PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER READING IN ENGLISH "Stop Turkish state's war on Kurds" PROTESTERS HOLDING POSTERS READING (Russian): "Erdogan a Terrorist" AND (English): "Turkey stop attacking Rojava!" MAN CHANTING SLOGANS IN KURDISH WITH THE U.S. NATIONAL FLAG ON BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OIL INDUSTRY ENGINEER, ALLAN AYO, SAYING: "We would like to ask the European Union, America, Canada, Ukraine, the Arab World, the whole world should now be with us. They should not kill our children. Those children are not guilty of anything. They have not done anything. Children never do anything, they are angels. And we want to protect our land. Why is Turkey is invading our country? Why are they invading our land?" LITTLE GIRL HOLDING KURDISH NATIONAL FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) HEAD OF KURDISH COMMUNITY IN UKRAINE, GEORGIY GASSANOV, SAYING: "The only power and the only country that can stop Turkey, and not only stop but also pull them out is the United States of America. The only power. They [Turkey] cannot resist only the U.S. Yet again, Kurds are fighting, defending attacks of the Turkish Army, heroically." PROTESTERS POSING IN FRONT OF SIGN READING (English and Ukrainian): "THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"
- Embargoed: 30th October 2019 15:23
- Keywords: Kurds Ukraine Turkish offensive United States embassy allies campaign Syria Kurdish protest U.S. Erdogan Kurdistan
- Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
- City: KIEV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1CLWLJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Around one hundred ethnic Kurds gathered on Wednesday (October 16) in front of the U.S. embassy in Kiev demanding international support against Turkish offensive in Syria.
Protesters tore up an image of President Tayyip Erdogan and chanted 'long live Kurdistan!’
"America, the U.S.A. they just abandoned us. We worked together, we were fighting together, we were allies, we were fighting the ISIS, the biggest terror group in the whole world. It was against all humanity, against the world, they were just killing everybody and we fought them and we won. And now after we won, America abandoned us, and they left us to fight alone with the second most powerful NATO (army) in the world," said Hassan Hassan, who studies in Ukraine.
The United States announced on Sunday (October 13) it was withdrawing its entire force of 1,000 troops from northern Syria.
U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected decision to withhold protection from Syria's Kurds after a phone call with Erdogan a week ago swiftly upended five years of U.S. policy on Syria. As well as clearing the way for the Turkish incursion, the U.S. withdrawal gives a free hand to Washington's adversaries in the world's deadliest ongoing war, namely Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
Since, the former Kurdish allies forged a new alliance with Assad's government, inviting the army into towns across their territory.
On Monday (October 14), Washington announced sanctions to punish Turkey for its offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, but Trump's critics said the steps, mainly a steel tariff hike and a pause in trade talks, were too feeble to have an impact.
Trump has defended his reversal of U.S. policy as part of a plan to extricate the United States from "endless" wars in the Middle East.
But his critics cast it as a betrayal of the Kurds, loyal allies who lost thousands of fighters as the principal ground force in Washington's battle against Islamic State.
(Production: Sergiy Karazy, Anton Derbenev) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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