Turkey warns France against supporting Kurd militia

Turkey warns France against protecting a US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria and says Ankara’s military power was enough to defeat the Islamic State after US troops withdraw.

Washington’s decision to pull out all 2,000 ground forces from Syria has stunned most allies, including France, but was greeted with approval by Turkey.

Ankara believes its forces supporting Syrian opposition fighters will now have a freer rein to target Kurdish fighters from the US-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG).

“If France is staying to contribute to Syria’s future, great, but if they are doing this to protect the [militia], this will bring no benefit to anyone,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says, according to Hurriyet daily.

— AFP