Trump told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Dec. 14, 2018 that Bolton would craft a statement that the United States had won the fight against IS and was leaving Turkey to deal with the group’s remnants in Syria, Ahval news agency reported.

Bolton revealed details of the conversation, which preceded a Turkish military incursion into Syria that was opposed by many U.S. politicians and NATO allies, in his book ‘The Room Where It Happened’, which is due to be published next week.

After the Erdogan call, Trump then asked Bolton to “work it out quietly but that we were leaving [Syria] because IS is finished”.

In a later phone call with Macron, Trump ignored the French president’s warnings about IS and the fate of Kurdish fighters allied with the United States and NATO against the armed jihadist group.

“Trump brushed him (Macron) aside, saying we were finished with IS, and that Turkey and Syria would take care of any remnants,” Bolton said. “Macron replied that Turkey was focused on attacking the Kurds, and would compromise with IS.”

Macron’s concerns were echoed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said “Erdogan doesn’t care about IS,” Bolton said. Meanwhile, he said he and Pompeo agreed that the views of the United States and Turkey on the Kurds were “irreconcilable”.

Bolton said Erdogan sought to reassure Trump about his treatment of the Kurds.

“Erdogan took pains to say he loved the Kurds and vice versa, but added that the YPG-PYD-PKK (three Kurdish groups in Turkey and Syria, the nine initials of which Erdogan rattled off as if spelling his own name) were manipulating the Kurds, and did not represent them.

“We had heard all this before, and it was standard Erdogan regime propaganda,” Bolton said.

Bolton also said that Trump’s pledge to Erdogan to get out of Syria was immediately preceded by an exchange of words about Turkish state-run Halkbank, which was under U.S. investigation for breaking sanctions on Iran.

“Trump started by saying we were getting very close to a resolution on Halkbank. He had just spoken to [Secretary of the Treasury] Mnuchin and Pompeo, and said we would be dealing with Erdogan’s great son-in-law (Turkey's Finance Minister) to get it off his shoulders,” Bolton said.

A judicial and Treasury investigation into Halkbank continues. An October indictment against Halkbank identifies Erdogan and his son-in-law, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, as unnamed co-conspirators.

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