this is bbc news. the headlines: the us has applied sanctions on turkey in response to the country's military offensive in northern syria. the war looks set to enter a new, dangerous phase, with syrian government forces on the move to help kurdish fighters under attack from turkish forces. protests have erupted in barcelona after spain's supreme court sentenced nine catalan separatist leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison. large crowds of protesters clashed with police at barcelona's international airport. margaret atwood and bernardine evaristo have been named thejoint winners of the 2019 booker prize after the judges broke their rules by declaring a tie. at 79, atwood is the oldest ever winner, while evaristo is the first black woman to win the prize. they each took home about $32,000.

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. donald trump doesn't seem to do regret, but maybe even he will come to rue his abrupt decision to pull us troops out of northern syria. his move prompted a turkish military invasion of territory held by syria's kurds. the kurds are now looking to president assad for military help. the region, once a playground for so—called islamic state, has been plunged back into chaos. my guest is alan semo, representative of the syrian kurdish democratic union party in london. what are his people's options now?

alan semo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, great pleasure to be here. you represent the democratic union party of syrian kurds. should you and your people have seen donald trump's dramatic decision to withdraw us forces from your region coming? no, we haven't seen it. but should you have seen it coming? because donald trump, if one looks at the record, as long ago as last december declared that the us had won its war with islamic state, and therefore, he said, were going to withdraw our forces from northern syria. so, in that sense, you had some

warning that this might happen. that's correct, but not in that extent — that we leave suddenly and without any replacement of the forces. there are people in your region talking of betrayal. is that a word you are using? it's more than that, and beyond betrayal. these people have honoured their promises and defeated the common, the global threat to the — the global threat to their society, the western society, mostly the kurds. and now they have been abandoned on their own to face their — face the brutal face of turkish aggression, invading on 5 million civilians in north—eastern syria.

what are you hearing as you try to make contact with your family and friends in northern syria about what they're facing today? unfortunately, the shelling and bombardment have been now continuously for five days, night and day, 2a hours. about 200,000 people have been displaced already, according to un reports. there are — all the towns on the border with turkey, people have been displaced. many facilities of hospitals, schools, have been bombarded, and people have to seek somewhere else east of syria to get away, escape from this bombardment. much of your family is from near to the town of kobane,

which is close to the turkish border, was once held by so—called islamic state fighters, but then of course was taken by the syrian democratic force militia. how are your family today? have they fled, or are they still in their home? no, they stay home. and most of the people, they're staying home, but they're very, very concerned, and they‘ re following the development. there is some infiltration of the turkish military and their proxies, which are mercenaries who have been allied with turkey. but there are still people there, and the defence — people defending themself, for security. what do you say to them when you talk to them on the telephone, and i guess they discuss with you whether it is wise, safe, to stay at home, or whether they should flee? what do you believe they should do?

they're trying to defend themselves. they said, we have seen the worst of isis, and turkey is attacking the civilians, and we have to be very, very careful. but we all have nowhere, no option safer than this, our home. we're going to stay and we're going to defend ourselves. so they will fight, will they? members of your family are going to fight? my family, all the society, all the people in northern syria, even civilians now, they're preparing for themselves. students, all teachers, all parts of the communities, members of communities, because they have realised, as you mentioned before now, there is no option. where are we going to go? you tell me that your family and everybody in kobane and other syrian—kurdish towns will fight, but the truth is it is a military mismatch, isn't it? i mean, the firepower, whether it be by air, artillery, tanks, all of the firepower is on the side of turkey.

you have very little to respond with. no, we have the will. and this we have proven before — 2014, 2015. we have been defeating. we have a history of victory. we have defeated the most brutal isis, which no forces, military forces, stood against them. with respect, mr semo, you represent a party, but you are in london, and perhaps it is easier to discuss these things from a party in london than from a place like kobane. of course your forces fought, and we know they fought a very tough battle against islamic state fighters. but islamic state fighters do not have an air force. they do not have tanks. they do not have all of the military equipment the turkish army and its airforce have. you cannot expect your forces on the ground to be able to put up meaningful resistance against turkey.

but we're not going to give it up easily. we're going to defend on the ground. and i totally agree with you that the airspace is most dangerous for north—eastern forces now, the military forces. i'm nota military man, i know, but this is the fact, as you mentioned it — the airspace. and now, therefore, the north—eastern syrian people now are seeking to have airspace blocked for turkey. therefore we have been calling for a no—fly zone. and now, when america decided yesterday they will withdraw all theirforces, and the russians and the regime called and agreed to come to the border, military only, and this is agreement to prevent the turkish airspace to breach the syrian airspace. well, we'll get to what the assad government and what the russians

want to do and will do in a moment. but let's go through this piece by piece. for one more moment, let's stick on what your military forces in the so—called ypg are doing on the ground. they are your sort of militia, syrian—kurdish militia. in response to the turks occupying syrian—kurdish towns and villages, they are — that is, your forces, have been firing shells into turkish towns just across the border in turkey, indeed, killing a number of civilians. do you think that is the right response? it is — you have to defend yourself. so you think the civilians who have been killed in akcakale, and you know that several have been killed, you think

that is legitimate, do you? it is defence. you declared the war. turkish government has declared the war and waged war against these forces, and these forces, they are all in their territory, and they have a legitimate right to defend themselves. everybody has a legitimate right to defend themselves. but we're not talking about attacking the turkish military forces who are attacking towns. we're talking about lobbing shells across the border into turkey? what about these 200 people who have been killed, civilians, even the political party leaders? she has been, yeah, assassinated. you're talking about hevrin khalaf, and she was brutally murdered. yes, what about her? she has no defence to herself. where will she go — run away? that raises a question, because she wasn't actually affiliated to the ypg or to the syrian defence forces. she was an independent politician. do you think that there are now militias at work in northern syria

who are specifically targeting kurdish politicians? there are. mostly they‘ re proxy forces which are backed by turkey. do you have proof that this is a specific, targeted policy? yes, this is the video saying they are not turkish soldiers, they are syrian. they are ahrar al—sharqiya, and they are backed by turkey, and they are saying in arabic that they are linked to ahrar al—sharqiya. that is one of the jihadist islamist groups. so let us talk about the jihadist islamists, who of course had a very strong presence in northern syria for some time, and then your kurdish forces took them on and beat them in a series of confrontations.

is it your belief that the turkish move into northern syria is going to see a revival of the jihadist groups in northern syria? this is a fact. this is a fact, and this is the proof of that. as assad mentioned it, a group in northern syria have been fighting back. so yes. are you in the kurdish—syrian movement in a sense using the threat of a revival of so—called islamic state as leverage to try to change the mind of washington, or other western powers, not to abandon you? i wish — i wish we could use it, but we are not able. and this is not our view. we are not using it as leverage.

we have been calling for the international community, including all european countries, to take responsibility, to take their citizens, to have prosecutions. we want justice. as you mentioned, if we do that, the iraqi government would have killed all of them, isis fighters. we have them. you have, and i believe there are 4,000. 11,500 iraqis. we did not, because we didn't want to force them. we treated them humanely. all we wanted, we wanted justice for them. well, let's talk the numbers. it seems there are almost 12,000 is fighters. 4,000, it seems, are foreign fighters. they have come to the region to fight with islamic state. there have been suggestions that they have already been escaping. we know that one camp for displaced is related people, mostly women and children, one of the camps near ain issa, was hit, and as a result there was chaos and we believe 700 foreign nationals escaped.

not necessarily fighters, it seems they were family members. but is your message to the outside world today that thousands of islamic state fighters will be freed, one way or another, if this war continues? if you're not going to support, to make them secure. but see, that does sound like a threat. no, it's not. i am keeping them. i have kept them for six months now. i have fed them. i understand that. no, i understand, you have fed them, you have kept them, you have kept them detained. but, if you are serious about keeping them detained, why don't you, right now, before the turks arrive in some of those camps, move them to safer areas, so that they cannot escape? ain issa is far away. it's 45 miles from the border, where are you going to move them? we wish, we ask the international community, please find a space we can move them.

to a safere space as you said, this is not... mr trump has for our beatles, from that area to a secure area which we're expecting is in iraq. yes, but you mentioned these two individuals the so—called beatles, they're british prisoners they were fighters with the islamic state, they are believed to have committed crimes, the united states has removed them in the middle of all of this crisis in the recent days, the us took these two prisoners, as you say, we belive they're in iraq. but the point is there were at least 50 other prisoners on an american list of high—value ias suspects. and according to a report in the new york times when the americans approached the syrian defence force, that is the kurdish syrian force, to get access to these other prisoners, high—value prisoners, that access was denied

and they remain in your custody. why were you not prepared to give them up to the americans? it's not true. we have given them to the americans. but because of the bombardments, now you cannot move them. this is not we allow them to escape, this is absolutely not true. we tried and we try now as well. yesterday's statement, that isis fighters in prison will be secured and kept safe. but the turkey bombardment, and isis come. turkey bombardment, and it will be kept there and they make it to escape. it's not us, it is turkey's aim now to rescue them. but you, the kurdish syrians, are now paying the price for your decision to link yourselves so closely to the to the pkk, the insurgent group inside turkey. the reason the turks have moved in to northern syria

is because they say they have to act against a terrorist group, which is your group, which is a close intimate relationship with the pkk. you are one and the same thing. this is a pretext of turkey. it's actually true. it's not true and it's not reality. in 2016, the krg, the kurdish region in northern iraq tried to do independence. and mr barzani, president barzani, is a close ally to turkey. and is a close ally to the west as you know. why turkey was attacking him and preventing him? he is not the pkk. he is against the pkk. he is a close ally and he's working with turkey and relying on turkey's economy so that means turkey is not genuine. it doesn't necessarily mean that,

it means that turkey and iraq may be different. let's be clear at this point, clearly, we kurds, pyd and all the kurdish political movement, in syria, we are a syrian, we have our own relationship, we have equal relationship with kdp, kurdish regional government, we have the same kurdish talibani and barzani and we consider all of the other kurdish political parties and different parts of iraq, iran, turkey, as kurdish movements. mr semo, here are some facts. the facts are that the ypg that is the military wing of your own party, the ypg group inside kurdish syria has in the past unfurled banners and posters

during its operations, abdullah 0calan, the imprisoned founder of the pkk. here is another fact, of the director of national intelligence in the united states back in 2018 said of your ypg, he said, "the ypg is a syrian militia wing of the kurdistan workers party, that is the pkk." the united states regards the ypg as a terrorist organisation, so does the uk and the europeans. this is the reality. it's a reality that you always deny, but it's the reason why the turkish military is on your territory today. these aren't reasonable reasons. these are not facts. so if i'm supporting... imagine a kurd living in iran as he is a kurd. and he likes 0calan.

does that mean he is 0calani? no, but if one looks at the evidence, there is clear evidence of a command structure, the organisation of the ypg is intimately connected to the pkk. this is not true. the us made it clear that it's not true. yes, and uk make it clear it is not true. is it also... 0k you've said it's not true. let's just move on to other aspects — troubling aspects of the ypg. is it true that ypg uses child soldiers? no, they have been declared, the syrian democratic forces... so why do you think the united nations, human rights watch and other independent human rights groups have all said that there's clear evidence that the ypg uses, recruits and sometimes kidnaps children to serve in your military forces?

it was some individual cases and since they have signed the agreement, geneva agreement for now recruiting underage, but it was some individuals, not in the front line. there was some young, under 18, or 16, 17s. and then they stopped it, since the agreement of the geneva convention. so you acknowledge that as of august 2018 the latest human rights report, you acknowledge that there has been recruiting of children, including girls, using some inhostilties despite pledges to stop? it was individuals, individual cases and it stopped. let's finish because we have to finish in a moment, let's finish with what is going to happen now, because as a result of the turkish invasion of your territory,

you have reached out to president assad, you have asked the syrian army to take positions on the border. indeed to retake towns that were held by you but you seem to want the syrian army to move in now. do you really believe that president assad and his forces are going to be reliable protectors of the syrian kurds? it is their duty. it's not believing or not believing. this is the fact. this is not only kurds and syrians that have to defend the border of syria. but... the point is, mr semo, for the last six, seven years, the kurds in north and north—east syria have esentially run their own affairs. still running of these affairs. but if you are inviting assad and his regime and the military to take over, you will no longer be running... iam. ..it is the end. this is not true agreement. the compromise was that the russian, mediated by the russians on friday, they come, the russian delegation,the agreement is that syrian military forces in order to defend the airspace, the russian and the syrian military will move to only towns.

this is a military agreement and has no regards to the autonomous administration. the administration is running, they willjust come to the border. they will not even enter the cities and towns. you really — so you've now described how you feel the americans have utterly betrayed you. and now you are telling me that you really trust president assad to keep to an agreement. which sounds to me... it's nothing with trust or not trust. it's a fact. this is the your duty of syria regime as my duty. i'm protecting the border, and you hav to protect your border. if you're not able to protect your border then i have to look for somewhere else

to project my border. so you think that the syrians — the syrian army under the command of president assad is now going to fight the turkish army, do you? this is supposed to. do you really believe that's going to happen? hopefully will happen, why not? let me just end by reading to you a quote from the commander in chief of the sdf, that is your militia armed force in north—east syria, he said: "for us kurds there are going to be painful compromises with the assad government and with the russians. we don't trust their promises, to be honest it's hard to know who to trust. but if we have to choose between compromise and the genocide of our people, we will surely choose life for our people." is that what it's come to? that's right. this is the correct position. and therefore i'm saying — the people, yes, we don't trust but this is theit duty. i'm calling for you to do your duty and i will do my duty, i honour my duty but i wanted you to share with me your duty as well. do you think the survival of your people is at stake? it is, very seriously at stake.

and the international community has ought to do something to prevent this genocide. we have to end there, but alan semo, i thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank you. you well, here's the good news. the weather on tuesday is looking pretty decent across most of the uk. it should be a dry day, at least for most of us, and there'll be some sunshine around too. we'll be in between weather systems, so all of that rain we've just had will be clearing away out into the north sea.

in fact, by dawn, i think we'll be in between weather systems. you can see this gap between the weather fronts here. that's going to be in place right across the uk during the course of tuesday. but there is a weather front heading our way, and that's going to sweep in soon after. so let's have a look at the forecast, then, through the early hours of the morning. still some rain around in the north—east of the country, so newcastle, perhaps the borders of scotland, edinburgh maybe as well, a few spots of rain. but the vast majority of the country, i think, a dry end to the night. well, it's still wet, there are lots of puddles out there, but it won't be raining. and a bit of mist and fog first thing, for example, in the south—west of the country. so a bright day, i think, for most of us in store on tuesday. not completely dry, there is just a possibility of a few showers there in south—western parts of england, possibly wales too. but you'll notice the vast majority of the country enjoying that bright weather. there will be some clouds around. 17 in london, 14 expected in the north of the country. and then tuesday night,

into the early hours of wednesday, we're expecting another weather front to move across the uk. that means wednesday morning it is looking wet across eastern areas. so, anywhere from london through into lincolnshire and eastern parts of scotland, there will be some rain around. but, by the time we get to wednesday afternoon, you can see the weather's much better again, and the sun's out. so midweek, in the afternoon, there will be some sunshine. 16 in london, but cooler there in glasgow, around 12 degrees. and on thursday, we start to see a change. this area of low pressure is expected to roll in off the atlantic. it's quite a large area of low pressure. it's also quite slow—moving, so that means, once it starts moving in, it'lljust roll and roll all the way through the rest of the week, and into the weekend as well. so on thursday, we're expecting increasing winds and heavy, frequent showers across western parts of the uk. but on thursday still, across some central and eastern

areas, the weather should be mostly bright. and then, by the time we get to friday and the weekend, that low pressure‘s parked over the uk. strong winds in the west and the south, frequent showers, but sunshine too. bye— bye.

this is the briefing, i'm sally bundock. our top story: as the war in syria appears to enter a dangerous new phase, the us tries to put the brakes on turkey's offensive in the north of the country. the united states is going to continue to take actions against turkey's economy until they bring the violence to an end. england's euro 2020 qualifying game in bulgaria is overshadowed by home fans‘ racist behaviour. a busy day ahead for the duke and duchess of cambridge as they prepare for the first official engagements on their visit to pakistan. climate activists have got an unlikely ally. the european investment bank wants to ban investments