Hundreds gather at Turkish Consulate in L.A. to protest against Turkish invasion of Syria

LOS ANGELES - The Kurdish people in Syria say the Syrian government has agreed to help defend them against Turkey.

It's a major shift in alliances following a controversial decision by President Trump to withdraw all U.S. troops from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos.  

The president has been criticized for essentially abandoning Kurdish fighters who' been a U.S. ally in the region in the fight against ISIS. But this morning the president defended the move in a series of tweets including this one reading in part.

On FOX News Sunday Defense Secretary Mark Esper defended the president’s decision. 

“What we’re facing is U.S. forces in a trap between Syrian Russian army.... puts us in a terrible position. Safety of our service members comes first to me.”

Meanwhile, over 200 people protested outside the Turkish Consulate on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon. 
With flags, banners and signs in hand they were expressing their anger with Turkeys' president as well as President Trump’s decision that leaves the Kurds vulnerable.  

"Turkey out of NATO. Turkey out of NATO,” people chanted during the protest. 

The protest was organized by the ANCA-WR, the Kurdish Community of Southern California and the 
Armenian Youth Federation. They say the protest is to help put a stop to ‘Turkey's genocidal policy against the Kurdish, Armenian, and other minorities.’

“ISIS was formed by Turkey, also used as puppets to do their dirty deeds,” one protester told FOX11.

“I would like to see, god forbid we leave the U.S. forces there, but we need to have some security support at the international level ... to make sure Turkey doesn’t do this again, continue bombing and causing genocide,” he added. 

The Kurds have been fighting side by side for at least five years with the U.S. against ISIS in Syria.