Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) believe that Turkey’s main goal in Syria is to target the Kurds, and they have accused it of backing ISIS in Syria.
“Turkey is pretending that it is fighting against ISIS in Syria, but in fact they are working to destroy the Kurds in Syria in order to prevent them from establishing a region like Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq,” Mark Demesmaeker, member the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee told Rudaw.
“Turkey’s main aim is to weaken the Kurds in Syria,” he added.
Europe’s MPs are asking the European Union (EU) to take a stance against the Turkish incursion in Syria, and not just by talk but to take action as well.
The EU should be united and convey a clear message to Turkey, one MEP told Rudaw. “There are many ways to put pressure on Turkey. For example, the EU is a main partner of Turkey economically. We can press on Turkey. We should not only make threats but we can take other steps to put pressure on Turkey.”
Another MP agreed that economic pressures got be applied to force Turkey to retreat from Syria. “There are many ways to press on Turkey, such economic ones, to make Turkey withdraw from Syria,” Michael Gahler told Rudaw.
“Turkey’s war against ISIS in Syria is a pretext to weaken the Kurdish position in Rojava and northern Kurdistan,” he added.
“The fighting between the Kurdish and Turkish groups in Syria should not continue. And as we understood Turkey’s intention was to fight ISIS not others, we need to stick to that point – fighting should be only against ISIS not between each other,” Arne Lietz, MEP, told Rudaw.
“The civil war in the southeast of Turkey should not expand to Syrian territory,” he added.
France’s president has also criticized Turkey’s incursion and said it will escalate the conflict.
“There won’t be any victorious struggle against terror if the crises that are the causes of terrorism are not resolved,” Francois Hollande said during an address to French ambassadors in Paris on Tuesday, according to Euronews.
“It is more than time to stop this massacre and France is calling for an immediate truce,” he added.
Hollande mentioned that Turkey is taking aim at the Kurdish forces in Syria and he called for an urgent halt to the fighting and a return to negotiations.
“These multiple, contradictory interventions carry the risk of a general inflammation, so the absolute urgency is a halt to fighting and a return to negotiations,” Hollande said.
