Lindsey Graham, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters on a visit to Baghdad that Turkey should support a continued US presence in Syria.

Turkey has launched two military incursions into northern Syria in the last two years, driving back Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Islamic State (IS) fighters.

“I tried to make the case that you want America in Syria because the outcomes of us leaving are not good,” Graham said after meeting Erdogan in Turkey on a regional tour that also included northern Syria and Iraq.

“You don’t want any further incursions in Syria by the Turkish military, you’ll get yourself in a quagmire,” he added.

Last month Washington and Ankara endorsed a tentative deal in which the YPG would withdraw from Manbij while Turkish and US forces would jointly maintain security and stability. Turkey says its forces and the US military are now carrying coordinated but separate patrols there.

Turkish officials did not immediately respond to his comments.

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