Bolton made the remarks in Jerusalem on a four-day trip to Israel and Turkey. The White House announced last month that ISIS had been defeated in Syria and the US would withdraw 2,000 troops from the war-stricken nation.
"We don't think the Turks ought to undertake military action that's not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States at a minimum so they don't endanger our troops -- but also so that they meet the president's requirement that the Syrian opposition forces that have fought with us are not endangered," Bolton told reporters ahead of talks with Israeli officials, Reuters reported.
He described the pullout as a "cause-and-effect mission," according to The Wall Street Journal, demanding assurances from players in the region, and said the timetable hinges on certain policy decisions being put into effect.
Bolton is traveling with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Ambassador James Jeffrey, the special representative for Syria engagement, National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis told CNN last week.
Turkey says its aim is to 'rescue Kurds'
The Kurds enjoy strongholds in northeastern Syria and southern Turkey and have been integral to US ground-fighting efforts in Syria. Turkey has been engaged in a 40-year conflict with the Kurds and, at times, has been accused of brutal tactics.
Turkey considers many Kurdish separatist groups -- including the People's Protection Units, aka the YPG, which leads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces -- to be terrorist organizations. Ankara bristles at US support for the YPG, which it has accused of ethnic cleansing and attacks on its soldiers.
Ibrahim Kalın, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said following Bolton's remarks that any allegation that Turkey is targeting Kurds is "irrational." Turkey's only focus, he said, is ISIS and Kurdish terror organizations, including the YPG, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
He accused the YPG and other groups of "making efforts to establish an order by oppressing Kurds, who don't obey them, and their terrorist activities against our country," Anadolu reported.
"There is no doubt that a terror group cannot be an ally of the US," Kalin said, according to the news agency. "It's disrespectful to our Kurdish brothers to claim they are represented by a terror group."
Turkey's aim is to rid Syria of terrorist groups and "rescue Kurds from the tyranny and oppression of this terror group and to ensure their safety of life and property," he said. Turkey is resolved to be "both on the ground and at the table" to pursue it national interests, Anadolu quoted Kalin as saying.
YPG fears 'Turkish invasion'
Bolton said Sunday that President Donald Trump has told Erdogan that the troop withdrawal is contingent on Turkey assuring the US it will protect the Kurdish fighters who have served as US allies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bolton is expected to travel to Ankara on Monday.
Previously, a US defense official told CNN that the United States expected Turkey to make various requests for support -- including for airstrikes in Syria -- but the US would first seek assurances from Ankara that it will not attack US-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Bolton's remarks and Turkey's response mark the latest chapter in the White House's decision to withdraw its troops from Syria -- a move that culminated in the resignations of Defense Secretary James Mattis and Brett McGurk, the top presidential envoy in the fight against ISIS.
A week and a half after Trump announced the decision, the YPG issued a statement urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces to "assert control over the areas our forces have withdrawn from, in particular Manbij, and to protect these areas against a Turkish invasion."
The militia's attempt to engage with the Syria regime after years of fighting indicated a shift in strategic priorities, experts said.
World leaders and American lawmakers, including some of Trump's fellow Republicans, decried the decision and warned of a power vacuum forming in the absence of US troops. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, called it a "disaster in the making" and said transferring security to Russian and Turkish forces could endanger the Kurds, as well as prospects for future alliances.
"If we leave now the Kurds will get in a fight with Turkey. They could get slaughtered. Who would help you in the future?" he asked.
The "big winners" of the withdrawal, he said, would be Russia, Iran, the Islamic State and the Assad regime. Turkey and "eventually Israel" would lose, Graham said.
French President Emmanuel Macron specifically addressed claims that the pullout was tantamount to deserting the Kurds.
"Being allies means fighting shoulder to shoulder, and so an ally must be reliable and coordinate with other allies," he said.
No timetable set
Bolton, along with the US State and Defense departments, said the US is working with its partners to ensure a safe troop withdrawal and handoff of security obligations.
The State Department said Israel will continue to receive US support in its fight against "Iranian regional actors." Not only is Iran a powerful backer of the Assad regime, but experts say the Islamic Republic stands to benefit from any power vacuum in Syria.
Days after blasting the planned withdrawal, Graham changed his tune after a lunch with Trump, saying he felt the US was "slowing things down in a smart way" after military commanders informed Trump that the Islamic State had not been vanquished -- an assertion he called an "eye-opening" revelation for the commander in chief.
"I think we're in a pause situation where we are reevaluating what's the best way to achieve the President's objective of having people pay more and do more," the senator said.
Though Trump ordered a rapid withdrawal of troops from Syria on December 19, no timetable was provided. The New York Times has reported that Trump gave military leaders four months to extract personnel.
Despite the announcement, the war against ISIS in Syria has continued, with US-backed forces recapturing ISIS-held towns and the US-led coalition conducting 469 air and artillery strikes on ISIS targets between December 16 and December 29, the coalition said.
"As long as there are US troops on the ground we will conduct air and artillery strikes in support of our forces," a Pentagon spokesman has told CNN.
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