W hen Abu Amar heard the news that the US would be pulling its troops from Syria, an old love song drifted into his head.

“It goes: ‘You took me to the middle of the road and you left me there,’” says the Kurdish 50-year-old used car salesman*. “That is what the Americans are doing to us.”

The actual line in the song is slightly different, but the meaning is the same.

Over the last few years, Syria’s minority Kurdish population has faced down the threat of Isis, gone on to win new freedoms and built an autonomous administration that it hopes will outlast the country’s civil war.

They have done so in large part due to the protection afforded to it by the US military, which allied itself with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and sent 2,000 US troops to Syria to help bring an end to the Isis caliphate.

But with the caliphate on the verge of defeat, those American soldiers are on the way out. Their withdrawal, abruptly announced by Donald Trump in December, has raised the prospect of further instability for Syrian Kurds.

“All through history we have made alliances with big powers, but when they leave we are always left in trouble,” says Abu Amar.

Nusaybin district, Mardin, Turkey, where flags of the Kurdish YPG over the border in Qamishli, Syria (Getty) (Getty Images)

A look at the map is enough to see why he is concerned. To the west, an emboldened Syrian government is eager to reassert its authority over Kurdish areas after years of absence. To the south, Isis sleeper cells are emerging from the ashes of the defeated caliphate. But the biggest threat lies to the north, where Turkey is threatening to cross the border and crush the Kurdish militia that holds power here.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened for months to create a “safe zone” inside Syria and remove the SDF from the border. The plan calls for a zone that stretches 20 miles deep into the country. Such a plan would swallow up major Kurdish towns and cities, including Qamishli, where Abu Amar lives.

“Right now we are trying to save our money in case of an invasion,” he says. “If the Turks come here, it will be like when Isis controlled these areas. I will leave everything behind and go.”

Like many in the Kurdish areas of Syria, Abu Amar views Turkey with deep suspicion. Due in large part to a decades-long policies of discrimination towards its own 15 million-strong Kurdish population, Turkey is viewed as something of an enemy by many Syrian Kurds.

For the past 40 years, Turkey has fought a homegrown insurgency led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group founded to fight for autonomy for Kurdish people in Turkey, but which now claims to fight for greater rights. The PKK is listed as a terror organisation by the European Union, the US and Turkey.

But while the US distinguishes between the two, Ankara says the Kurdish fighters of the SDF are directly connected to the PKK, and so views its growing power as an existential threat.

The US now finds itself in the centre of these two bitter enemies. The SDF has been a key ally of Washington in the fight against Isis, but the US recognises Turkey as a vital Nato partner.

Since the withdrawal was announced, US diplomats have scrambled to prevent an outbreak of fighting that would allow Isis space to regroup. The plans for a safe zone are currently “stuck in limbo”, according to Nicholas Heras, an analyst at the Centre for a New American Security.

“The Americans to their credit are trying very hard to find a deal that satisfies Turkey’s concerns, but also preserves the SDF as the primary vehicle through which to counter the reemergence of Isis,” he tells The Independent.

The Americans to their credit are trying very hard to find a deal that satisfies Turkey’s concerns, but also preserves the SDF as the primary vehicle through which to counter the reemergence of Isis Nicholas Heras, analyst at Center for a New American Security

“But the US team cannot get guarantees from Turkey that would prevent Turkish activities to dismantle the SDF.”

Here in Qamishli, there is a sense of foreboding over the plans. One reference comes up repeatedly in conversations: Afrin. The predominantly Kurdish region to the west of the Euphrates river, known for its vast olive groves, was held by the SDF until Turkey captured it early last year.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the city’s entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Since then, Amnesty International has accused Syrian rebel groups who now control the area, under Turkey’s command, of carrying out forced disappearances, confiscation of property and torture.

“In Afrin, the people suffered massacres. That’s what will happen here,” says Sardar Khalil, a 60-year-old technician. “Right now there is peace for us. But in Afrin no one is allowed to move.”

The SDF, aware that it would not stand much of a chance against Turkey’s modern army, has been looking for a compromise. It has recently suggested that an international force under the United Nations implements a safe zone, instead of Turkey.

Ilham Ahmed, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council – the political arm of the SDF, is concluding a whistle-stop tour of western capitals this week to drum up support for the idea.

“Any attempt by the Turkish state to establish a safe zone in the north of Syria will be an occupation, and no matter that the Turkish state wants to convince others that it will be a force for calm in the region, this is not what will happen,” she said during a visit to London this week, according to The Guardian.

Ilham Ahmed has been lobbying the US to broker an agreement between her group and Turkey over how to manage northeastern Syria once American troops withdraw (AP) (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Turkey’s defence minister Hulusi Akar has rejected the idea outright, however.

“The safe zone isn’t for Turkey alone, but also for the safe return of Syrian refugees who have had to leave their homes back to their country,” he said on Friday, according to the Anadolu news agency. “Only Turkey should be present in the safe zone.”

Even if a deal is reached on the safe zone, the SDF faces another powerful foe in the form of the Syrian government, and its ally Russia. Damascus has made it clear that it intends to reassert its control over the entirety of the country, meaning the autonomous self-administration built by the SDF over the past few years is at risk.

The return of government control here would mean a return to a time when Kurds were treated as second-class citizens, according to Abu Amjad, another salesman also in Qamishli.

If you wanted to be employed, they wouldn’t let Kurds have jobs. If you wanted to buy properties you couldn’t register in your name Abu Amjad, salesman in Qamishli

“You had to do everything through the Ba’ath regime,” says the 54-year-old. “If you wanted to be employed, they wouldn’t let Kurds have jobs. If you wanted to buy properties you couldn’t register in your name. Then you had the security services harassing people all the time.”

Perhaps the biggest impact of the self-administration will be on the younger generation of Kurds, who are growing up with rights their parents did not have, like being taught in their own language at school for the first time.

Rahman Izzedine Bozou, a 17-year-old high school student, says he wasn’t even allowed to speak Kurdish in the hallways before.

“It happened two or three times. I was speaking Kurdish and the teacher hit me with a stick,” he says. “We studied for seven or eight years in Arabic, so it was difficult to make the change. But it’s nice to study in your mother tongue.”

Rahman Izzedine Bozou, a 17-year-old student, has recently been taught in his native language for the first time (Richard Hall/The Independent ) (Richard Hall / The Independent)

A return of government control could also mean punishment for tens of thousands of Kurds who have avoided conscription in the Syrian army. Many now essentially live as fugitives, unable to travel outside of Kurdish areas of control, for fear of arrest.

Without the protection of the US, Abu Amar fears the worst.

“If the Turks come here, the whole Kurdish community will be destroyed,” he says. “And if the regime come they will take thousands of young people for conscription.”

This is what he means by “the middle of the road”.