We strongly condemn and reject the resolutions adopted by the French Senate
and National Assembly on Operation Peace Spring.
It is well understood that France has adopted these resolutions upon the
frustration of its endeavours to establish a terror state in Syria.
By taking such steps, the French Parliament and the French government which
supports these resolutions once again declared to the world that they side
with PYD/YPG, the Syrian off-shoot of PKK, an EU-designated terrorist
organization. For us, the attitude of the parliament of this country, where
terrorists are hosted at the highest-level at the Elysée Palace, is not
surprising.
Despite Turkey’s repeated warnings to its Allies against partnering with
the PYD/YPG terrorist organization against another one, namely DEASH;
France, under the guise of combatting DEASH, has supported a terrorist
organization that poses an existential threat to Turkey’s national security
and has insisted on the mistake of identifying Syrian Kurds with PYD/YPG.
The so-called “PYD/YPG romanticism”, which paralyzes the French
Parliament’s and Government’s perception of reality, has blinded France’s
eyes and deafened its ears against the oppression of PYD/YPG in all areas
under its yoke, primarily to Arabs and the very Kurds it claims to
represent as well as to Turkmens and Christians.
As previously expressed on every occasion, Operation Peace Spring was
carried out on the basis of international law, in accordance with our right
of self-defense outlined in Article 51 of the UN Charter and the relevant
UN Security Council resolutions on the fight against terrorism. The
legitimacy of the operation was also reaffirmed by our recent agreements
with the US and Russia.
We previously denied or elucidated all claims raised by the members of the
Parliament and Government officials during the decision-making processes in
the Parliament with our statements made so far to the international
community and to our foreign interlocutors at the highest level. The French
Parliament's adoption of resolutions that are incompatible with facts
despite all our initiatives and statements can only be explained with its
bias and lack of common sense towards Turkey, and with France’s despair
with respect to Syria.
No country can lecture Turkey on combating DEASH. A state that even
hesitates to assume the responsibility of its citizens in Syria who joined
DEASH, has no right at all to make accusations against Turkey which engaged
in close quarter combat on the ground against DEASH, lost martyrs and
continuously conducted counter-DEASH operations.
It is only a historical irony that those who claim that Operation Peace
Spring would interrupt efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian
conflict, adopted the latest of these resolutions on the very same day when
the Constitutional Committee met for the first time, bringing a new impetus
to the political process.
We once again invite the Parliament and Government of France to side with
their NATO and European ally Turkey, not with terrorists in the fight
against terrorism, and to show solidarity with Turkey.