By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun
ANKARA (AA) – France’s offer to mediate between Turkey and the PYD/PKK-led SDF terrorist group in Syria is “unacceptable, ” Turkey's foreign minister said on Friday.
The meeting of France’s president with the terrorist SDF on Thursday shows its “double standard ” on terrorist groups, Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin in Ankara.
“Who are you to mediate between Turkey and terror groups? ” Cavusoglu said, echoing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statements earlier on Friday.
“This is what France does, trying to show themselves as important, to play a role in every subject. But this is unacceptable, ” Cavusoglu said.
After Thursday’s meeting at the Elysee Palace, France’s presidency issued a statement saying that Macron recalled “France’s commitment against the PKK and its commitment to the security of Turkey”.
However, as Turkey has documented, the PYD/PKK and SDF actually are the Syrian branches of the terrorist PKK, recognized by Turkey, France, and the EU as a terrorist group.
Macron also claimed the SDF had “no operational link with this terrorist group” — the PKK — adding that “a dialogue could be established between the SDF and Turkey with the assistance of France and the international community “.
But the SDF is dominated by PYD/PKK forces, as Ankara has demonstrated.
In its 30-year terrorist campaign against Turkey, the PKK has taken some 40,000 lives.
Ankara has warned against international actors cooperating with such groups as the PYD/PKK, YPG/PKK, and SDF/PKK, as they are just the PKK under different names.
