Turkey raps France, says US only counterpart in northeast Syria
Turkey’s top diplomat said Washington was its only interlocutor in northeastern Syria and urged France to repatriate its jihadist nationals jailed in the country.
The remarks by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan came as Washington tried to dissuade its NATO ally from escalating an offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.
Ankara has threatened military action against the SDF, a US ally that has been key in fighting IS militants and which controls dozens of prisons and camps where jihadists are held.
Turkey sees the group as linked to its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is considered a terror organization by Ankara and many of its Western allies.
“The US is our only counterpart” for developments in northeastern Syria, Fidan said, dismissing the concerns of other Western nations about the potential return of extremists to their own countries.
“Frankly we don’t take into account countries that try to advance their interests in Syria by hiding behind US power,” he said.
France, he said, was ignoring Turkey’s security concerns by not repatriating French jihadists but leaving them to be guarded by the SDF, which Turkey sees as a threat to its national security.
“They have a policy: they do not bring ISIS prisoners back to their own countries. But they do not care about our security,” he said, insisting Turkey’s only aim was to ensure “stability” in Syria.
Asked about the possibility of a French-US troop deployment in northeast Syria, he said France’s primary concern should be to take back its nationals.
“If France had anything to do, it should take its citizens, bring them to its prisons, and judge them,” he said.
Despite Washington’s insistence on the SDF’s crucial role in keeping the extremists at bay in northeastern Syria, Fidan said last month its only job was “keeping ISIS prisoners in jail.”
“Unfortunately, our American friends and some European friends are using a terrorist organization to keep the other terrorists in prison,” he said in an interview with France24.