Turkey condemns French cooperation with terror group PKK

Turkey disapproves of France's close cooperation with the PKK and its Syrian affiliate YPG, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

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

The US-backed the PYD/YPG-dominated SDF militia in a battle against Daesh’s last territory in Syria.

The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organisation. 

In its 30-year terror campaign against the Turkish state more than 40,000 people, including women and children, have been killed.

Turkey, the US and the EU recognise the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

Idlib

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."

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

Le Drian said the priority in Idlib must be to "restore calm and serenity to avoid a new humanitarian disaster."

"We call on the Syrian regime and its supporters to stop their indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Idlib," he said.

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

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011, when Assad regime violently cracked down on demonstrators.