French president says Tuesday's meeting started 'very useful dialogue,' clarified certain misunderstandings with Turkey
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday the quartet London meeting with Turkish, British and German leaders was “very useful.”
“I'm very happy that we had a very useful meeting yesterday with British Prime Minister, Chancellor Merkel and President Erdoğan, Macron told a press conference after the NATO leaders’ summit in London.
The meeting, which helped clarify various issues, also “allowed us … to reaffirm our priority in fighting IS [Daesh], and our common commitment to the refugee issue and a political solution to the Syrian conflict,” the French leader said, in remarks translated into English.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday met French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, both in London for a two-day NATO summit, alongside host British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the prime minister.
The leaders discussed latest developments in Syria and exchanged views on Turkey's operation targeting the terrorist YPG/PKK in northern Syria.
The quartet meeting “started a very useful dialogue and clarified certain misunderstandings with Turkey,” Macron said.
However, the French leader reiterated his opposition to classifying terrorist PKK’s Syrian offshoot YPG as a terror group.
“We’re combatting the PKK and those groups that are fighting against Turkey directly. But we’re not equating these different political and military groups to each other. So, we disagree on this. And that has not been changed,” said Macron.
However, he added: “When ... certain groups do have terrorist intentions on Turkish soil against the Turkish country, [for us] there's no ambiguity about the fact that we will fight against those groups,” he added.
Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate YPG/PKK terrorists from northern Syria east of the Euphrates River in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.
Under two separate deals with the U.S. and Russia in mid-Oct., Turkey paused the operation to allow the withdrawal of YPG/PKK terrorists from the planned Syria safe zone.
Ankara wants YPG/PKK terrorists to withdraw from the region so a safe zone can be created to pave the way for the safe return of some 2 million refugees.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
