Turkey condemns French cooperation with PKK/YPG

By Zehra Nur Duz and Busra Nur Bilgic

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey disapproves France's close cooperation with the PKK/YPG terror group, the foreign minister said Thursday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu made the remarks at a joint news conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian after a bilateral meeting in the capital Ankara.

Commenting on an attack on a Turkish army observation point in Idlib, Syria earlier today which left three soldiers wounded, Cavusoglu said: "It is a deliberate act of aggression."

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian offshoot.

"It is not possible to say there is complete cease-fire in Syria's Idlib at the moment," he added.

Le Drian extended support to Turkey on the cease-fire in Idlib saying its implementation should be ensured.

Even as Turkey and Russia had agreed to stop acts of aggression and convert Idlib into a de-escalation zone, the Syrian regime has consistently violated the terms of cease-fire. It has launched frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.

The top French diplomat rejected Greek media reports that Paris will make its presence in southern Cyprus permanent.

“We certainly do not foresee French deployment in Cyprus. The Greek press is mistaken,” he said.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece, Ankara intervened as a guarantor power. In 1983, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- ended in 2017 in Switzerland.