Türkiye rules out any role for France in the open conflict in northeast Syria

MADRID Jan. 10 () –

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, ruled out this Friday any role for France in the open conflict in northeastern Syria between pro-Turkish rebel groups and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by the United States.

“I do not believe that the policies developed by some small European countries in terms of participating in certain operations under the umbrella of the United States contribute to the region,” he said when asked at a press conference about a possible joint military deployment by Washington and Paris to stabilize the area.

In this sense, he has reiterated that the “interlocutor” with whom they remain in contact is the United States. “If there is something that France can do, it is to remove from prison the people it defines as its own citizens by the Constitution,” he declared, as reported by the Anatolia news agency.

In recent days there has been speculation about the possibility that France – which participates in the monitoring mechanism of the ceasefire agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon – could intervene in northeastern Syria in collaboration with the United States.

Turkey has warned this week that it could carry out an offensive in northeastern Syria if it does not expel the leaders and members of the Syrian Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG), linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party ( PKK).

Ankara considers that this militia – integrated into the FDS – has links with the PKK, considered a terrorist group in the country. Since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime, Turkey has defended that it will not recognize the YPG or the so-called Kurdish administration of northeast Syria, Rojava, within the framework of the establishment of a new power structure in the neighboring country.