French officials told Ankara they regret Turkey’s the Operation Olive Branch in the Kurdish enclave in northwestern Syria and advised Turkey to “put an end to it,” Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a meeting of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
He stressed that the UN Security Council ceasefire applies throughout the entire country, explaining it is necessary this be made clear “because we will all be mobilized in the coming days on the question of Eastern Ghouta, but the truce applies to all, including Afrin.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the ceasefire as useless. “The resolution that never went into effect has no meaning for humanity,” he told lawmakers from his AKP part on Tuesday, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
He slammed the lack of effort to end the bombardment of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta district where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates 805 civilians have been killed since February 18, including at least 24 on Tuesday.
On the other hand, Erdogan praised Turkish advances in Afrin.
Turkey has framed its military offensive in Afrin as a counter-terror operation and maintains it does not come under the UN’s 30-day humanitarian ceasefire unanimously adopted by the Security Council late last month.
The Kurdish YPG forces in Afrin have stated they accept the ceasefire and pledged to abide by it, but note they maintain the right to self-defence.
France and Britain requested an emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday to discuss the failed ceasefire.
