USA on Syria & Turkey - Media Stakeout (10 October 2019)

Informal comments to the media by Ms. Kelly Craft, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, on the situation in Syria.
Following closed consultations by the Security Council on the situation in northern Syria, United States ambassador Kelly Craft said Turkey bears “full responsibility for protecting the Kurdish population and religious minorities including Christians,” adding that failure to “play by the rules” will have “consequences.”
Speaking to reporters in New York today (10 Oct), Craft said the US “has not in any way endorsed the decision of the Government of Turkey to mount a military incursion into northeast Syria.” She said Turkey was now responsible “for ensuring that all ISIS fighters in detention in prison remain in prison and that ISIS does not reconstitute itself in any way, shape or form.” She stressed that “failure to play by the rules to protect the vulnerable populations; failure to guarantee that ISIS cannot exploit these actions to reconstitute will have consequences.”