French President Emmanuel Macron warned Turkey on Wednesday that its operation against Kurdish militias in northern Syria should not become an excuse to invade Syria, saying he wanted Ankara to coordinate its action with its allies.
(Reuters)
1/2/18
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- ‘Crooked idea’: Ankara lashes out at France’s Macron over ‘Syria invasion’ remark...
The Turkish PM has hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron over his remark, which suggested Ankara’s military operation in Syria may be an invasion and a problem for Paris. Turkey insists the op is counter-terrorism.
Macron questioned Turkey’s motives for going after the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northwestern Syria in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper published on Wednesday.
“If it turns out that this operation takes a turn other than to fight a potential terrorist threat to the Turkish border and becomes an invasion operation, [then] this becomes a real problem for us,” he said.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim dismissed the remark, saying “Turkey is never acting with an occupying mindset” and calling Macron’s suggestion a “crooked idea.”
“If France is interpreting this issue as an [invasion operation], we need to assess what they have done in Syria accordingly,” he told a news conference in Ankara, speaking alongside visiting his visiting Lebanese counterpart Saad Hariri.
“Those who want to make sense of what we are doing in Afrin should look at the 2,000km [1,242-mile] area covering Manbij, Jarabulus, and Azez as part of Operation Euphrates Shield,” he added, referring to the previous Turkish military operation in Syria, which was launched in 2016.
(RT)
1/2/18
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Ankara has described French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statement that Turkey’s ongoing military operation into northern Syria should not turn into an “invasion” as evidence of a “crooked view.” ...
ReplyDelete“If France is interpreting this issue as an [invasion operation], we need to assess what they have done in Syria accordingly,” Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told reporters at a joint press conference with visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Jan. 31.
“This is a crooked idea from the start. The whole world knows that Turkey is not acting with an invasive mind. They should know it too,” he said.
Yıldırım was responding to a question about Macron’s statement on the Turkish Armed Forces’ “Operation Olive Branch” into Afrin in northern Syria in a bid to clear the area of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“If the operation becomes more than fighting a potential terrorist threat on the Turkish border and turns into an invasion operation, we would have a real problem with that,” he said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro on Jan. 31.
Macron stressed the need for discussions between European and NATO allies over the operation, vowing to speak with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
hurriyetdailynews.com
1/2/18