Outside the northern Syrian town of Kobane lies the Martyr’s Cemetery. Late last year there were more than 1,300 headstones when I last visited. 

Almost all of those buried there are Kurds who died fighting the Islamic State (IS) group as the jihadists bore down on the town in 2014 -2015. 

Since then the Kurds have continued that fight to push the last remnants of IS out of the region. They have fought also to thwart the advance of Turkish forces and their militia allies from taking territory around the city of Afrin. 

These militia allies of Turkey who have been at the forefront of that assault have much in common with the jihadists of IS and reports of atrocities against Kurds in the region are commonplace.  

Hardly surprising then that when news of the US troop withdrawal from northern Syria was announced by Donald Trump recently, Kurds felt both betrayed by Washington and understandably vulnerable in the face of a promised Turkish onslaught against them.

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Yesterday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was optimistic that an agreement can be reached with Turkey to protect Kurdish fighters after US troops leave.

“We had this conversation, many details still to be worked out but I am optimistic we can achieve a good outcome,” Mr Pompeo said of his call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from Abu Dhabi, where he was on the fourth leg of a nine-nation Middle East trip.

Last week US special envoy for Syria and the anti-IS coalition, Jim Jeffrey, was reported to have travelled to northern Syria to work on the issue and would be returning to Turkey to continue the discussions.

The Kurds however remain cautious and have every right to be. For not only have they been promised much in the past only to be politically let down, but Turkish threats of late suggest that Ankara has little intention of easing up on its military onslaught against the Kurds.

For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that have taken the fight to IS remains the devil incarnate. Turkey considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades. The YPG meanwhile denies any direct organisational links to the PKK.

Despite Mr Pompeo’s cause for optimism over a deal to protect Kurds from Turkey once US troops leave northern Syria, most Kurds are not holding their breath. They point to the fact that Ankara’s campaign in Afrin is proof that Turkey does, in fact, target the Kurds and will most likely continue to do so. 
Kurdish sources in cities like Kobane and Manbij that are under control of the YPG say any deal the US can broker with Turkey would be welcome, but they continue to prepare for an intensified military campaign by Ankara and its militia allies. 

Many Kurds point to what happened in Afrin when the Turks and their allies overran it as evidence of what to expect. 

“Afrin is the living example of the protection that Turkey can offer Kurds: the Kurdish language and identity are completely forbidden now,” one Syrian Kurd now living in Europe and using the pseudonym Azad to protect his relatives still living in Afrin was quoted as saying recently to online news portal Kurdistan 24. 

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Last year while in Kobane I interviewed many Kurds who had fled Afrin who described in detail what they faced when Turkish forces and their militia allies overran the city, 

“Our family's ancestors have been living in Afrin for over 200 years,” said one man called Nuri (45)  who, along with his family and thousands of others, was forced from the city by the fighting and now lives in Kobane.

“The whole journey was traumatic with the constant bombing, but the moment that we left Afrin was the worst, nobody remained in the village, everyone left,”

Nuri recalled, of the day when he and his family fled.

Last week Turkey’s Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin insisted it was “irrational to say that Turkey targets Kurds”. 

His remarks were instantly rounded on by many Kurds including Polat Can, a Kurdish commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who according to Wladimir van Wilgenburg an analyst of Kurdish politics and freelance journalist with Kurdistan 24, questioned why Turkey imposed the raising of its flags, its language, and changed street names in Afrin from Kurdish to Turkish in March if Turkey claims it is not against the Kurds.

“Why do you change the Kurdish names to Turkish in Afrin? Why did you destroy (Kawa) statue the national symbol of all Kurds?” Mr Van Wilgenburg quoted Mr Can as asking on Twitter.

While observers wait to see whether US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s diplomatic negotiations with the Turkish government ultimately deliver the reassurances the Kurds want, Ankara continues to give out mixed messages.  
On a visit last Friday to Turkish troops stationed near the Syrian border, Turkey’s defence minister, Hulusi Akar, said his country was “determined” to fight Kurdish militias it considers terrorists and insisted that military preparations were ongoing.

While the uncertainty continues, many regional observers stress that their remains much to be done to ensure that IS is not able to regroup. 

The Syrian Kurds and YPG they correctly point out have a vital role in tackling these last remnants of IS and ensuring the jihadists are unable to regroup to mount another insurgency campaign.

The measure of the job still to be done and the vital role the Kurds have in that operation was highlighted again recently, when two British SAS soldiers were reported seriously injured by an IS missile strike in Syria, while taking part in a joint operation with the Kurds, in which a Kurdish fighter was also killed. 

For the moment Washington’s request for assurances that the Kurds will not be subjected to Turkish aggression is a big ask for Ankara.

To date initial responses from President Erdogan have been far from encouraging with warnings he would “not make concessions” to the Kurds. 

In light of this Mr Pompeo’s “optimism” may yet prove misplaced. Either way the Kurds will doubtless be preparing for the worst.