Several parliamentarians questioned Germany’s partnership with the NATO ally Turkey and called for the matter to be brought to the military alliance or to the UN Security Council.
Turkey’s offensive is “contrary to international law,” said Roderich Kiesewetter of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He proposed that the matter should be brought to NATO and the UN Security Council and commended Berlin’s decision to suspend tank-upgrade discussions with Ankara.
Speaking on behalf of the Left Party, which called for the session, Katja Kipping condemned Turkey’s “aggression” and called on Berlin to stop military cooperation with Ankara.
She said that Afrin was sheltering some 300,000 Syrians displaced by conflict elsewhere in the country, making Turkey’s operation “criminal.”
Kipping, who is chairperson of the Left Party, accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to force the Kurdish population out of northern Syria and condemned the failure of Germany, Europe, and NATO to support their allies in the war against ISIS.
The Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) Dagmar Freitag, expressed concern about the potential for the conflict to escalate, noting that Turkey’s operation ended hope that conflict in Syria was decreasing following the defeat of ISIS. She favoured finding a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.
Hans-Rudiger Lucassen of Alternative for Germany (AfD) noted Germany’s recent difficult relations with Turkey and questioned Berlin’s partnership with Ankara while Bijan Djir-Sarai of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) said that Turkey today is “light years” away from being a partner with the European Union.
Katja Keul of the Greens drew parallels between Berlin’s “silence” on the Afrin conflict with western failures to back Kurds in 1991 after encouraging them to rise up against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
She proposed tightening arms export laws, even for NATO allies.
Turkey launched its Operation Olive Branch on January 20 with the stated aim of clearing its borders of “terrorists,” referring to Kurdish groups Ankara alleges have ties to the PKK. More than 100 civilians have been killed after 13 days of clashes, according to Afrin health authorities.
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