Turkey calls possible deployment of French troops in Syria 'attempted occupation'
The possible dispatch of a French military contingent to Syria to assist the Kurdish armed groups could be considered an attempt to occupy Syrian territory. A statement to this effect was made by Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli on Saturday, as reported by Anadolu.
“In view of the nearly complete elimination of the Islamic State extremist group in Syria, no legal justification for deploying the military contingents of foreign states in Syrian territory remains. If France attempts to deploy its contingent in northern Syria, this will be an illegal act with respect to the norms of international law. Such actions by France could be construed as an attempt to occupy Syrian land,” the news agency cites the minister as saying.
On Thursday La Parisien reported with reference to a Kurdish representative that French President Emmanuel Macron, at a meeting with a delegation of representatives of the Arab and Kurdish population, assured the leadership of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that he will send French special forces into the city of Manbij in order to stop the Turkish army’s advance in the region. The French president spoke in favor of creating dialog between the SDF and Turkey with the collaboration of France and the international community.
On Friday, France’s Foreign Ministry said that Paris was not planning to conduct an independent military operation in northern Syria.
On January 20, the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces declared the start of Operation Olive Branch against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (part of the SDF coalition) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Afrin, where roughly 1.5 million Kurds and refugees from other Syrian provinces live. Ankara views both the SDF and the PYD as terrorist organizations. On March 18, Turkey’s General Staff announced that it had taken the city of Afrin under control, and on March 24 the military department reported that it had taken control of the entire Afrin region in north-western Syria.