Turkey rejects calls for Afrin ceasefire
TURKEY forcefully rejected on Wednesday Western calls to suspend its offensive in north-west Syria, saying the United States misunderstood the extent of a UN ceasefire resolution and accusing France of giving “false information” on the issue.
Ankara has said last week’s United Nations resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across Syria does not apply to its five-week-old military operation in Afrin against the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey says is a terrorist group.
In strongly worded statements to two Nato allies, Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman said a US State Department appeal that Turkey “go back and read” the ceasefire resolution was unfounded, and he also denied that Paris had told Ankara that the truce also applied to its Afrin campaign.
On Monday French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he had told Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the UN demand “applied to all of Syria, including Afrin, and should be implemented everywhere and by all without any delay”.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy challenged that account, saying Mr Macron did not specifically mention Afrin in their telephone conversation about the ceasefire resolution.
“Our reaction regarding the error of giving false information to the public was conveyed to French authorities,” Mr Aksoy said.
The UN Security Council resolution demands all parties “cease hostilities without delay for a durable humanitarian pause for at least 30 consecutive days throughout Syria”.
It does not apply to military operations against Islamic State, al Qaeda and groups associated with them or other groups designated as terrorist organisations by the Security Council.
Turkey says the YPG militia which controls Afrin is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is deemed a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. The YPG is not designated as a terrorist group by the Security Council.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday that Turkey should read the ceasefire resolution, to “see what the world is saying about this”.
Mr Aksoy said the resolution did not specifically mention Afrin, and Turkey’s operation there was “a fight that is carried out against the terrorist organisations that target Ankara’s national security and Syria’s unity”.
Ms Nauert’s statement “is unfounded and it shows that they are not able to understand the focus of the resolution, or they want to distort it”, Mr Aksoy said.
Meanwhile the European Union’s top diplomat wrote on Monday to the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey urging them to uphold a ceasefire in eastern Ghouta and allow aid into besieged areas.
Appealing to the trio as the leaders of the Syrian peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on them to “implement a genuine humanitarian pause for at least 30 consecutive days throughout Syria.”
In the letter, Ms Mogherini also urged the three countries to “take all necessary steps to ensure that the fighting stops, that the Syrian people are protected, and finally that urgent humanitarian access and necessary medical evacuations are taking place.”
Ms Mogherini said in the letter, which was also sent to all 28 EU foreign ministers and to the United Nations SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres, that a ceasefire would give a chance for UN-led peace talks to make progress.