ANKARA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for his criticism on Turkey’s military offensive in Syria against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“Macron cannot be the leader of Europe by wobbling like this … Macron should not forget, as (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel said, Turkey is a NATO ally. He should stand by the allies,” Cavusoglu told reporters at the Turkish parliament.
Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey.
On Thursday, Macron said that Turkey cannot expect solidarity from NATO allies at a time when Ankara launched a military offensive in Syria as a “fait accompli.”
Macron also criticized NATO’s failure to respond to the military offensive by Turkey.
In October, the French leader had a meeting with Jihane Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the YPG dominates. Macron expressed France’s solidarity with SDF in its fight against Islamic State in Syria.
On Oct. 9, Turkey launched a military operation into northern Syria in a bid to drive Kurdish fighters out of the border region, following the pullout of U.S. troops.