Turkey threatens French forces that remain in Syria after US pullout

Guardian:

Turkey’s foreign minister has reiterated that Turkish forces are determined to cross the Euphrates river into Kurdish-held territory in Syria as soon as possible, despite previous suggestions from both Washington and Ankara that Turkey would delay the proposed military campaign.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday that “if Turkey says it will enter, it will”. While the foreign minister did not give a time frame, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said last week that Turkey would stall its offensive as part of coordination with the US over the planned withdrawal of US forces from the area.

Donald Trump surprised his administration and international partners alike last week with an announcement that the 2,000 special forces in Syria and airstrikes against Islamic State would cease in the next 60-100 days – a decision which prompted the resignation of both his defence secretary, Jim Mattis, and envoy to the coalition against Isis, Brett McGurk.

The US has long partnered with Syrian Kurdish-led forces in the battle against Isis, although Turkey views them as an extension of the separatist Kurdish PKK movement within its own borders whom it deems a terrorist group.

Trump’s decision was prompted by a phone call with Erdoğan earlier this month in which he had originally intended to stress to the Turkish leader that his threat against Syria’s Kurds must stop.

Turkey will take over the remnants of the fight to remove Isis from its last slivers of territory and has the “strength to neutralise” Isis on its own, Çavuşoğlu said. The future of the international coalition remains unclear.

The foreign minister also criticised the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has said French forces will remain in Kurdish-held Syria as a buffer.

“If France is staying in Syria to protect the YPG, that will neither benefit France nor the YPG,” he said, referring to the main Kurdish militia in Syria, adding that Turkey would take its cues on the matter from Washington, rather than Paris.
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I question Turkey's interest in dealing with ISIS.  It did nothing when the terrorist caliphate was engaged in genocide across its border with Syria.  In fact, it was accused of funding the terrorist by buying stolen oil from it at a discount and also provided safe passage for terrorists that chose to join ISIS.  Its only real interest in the area is attacking the Kurds who actually fought and helped to defeat ISIS.  It appears to be willing to attack a NATO ally to further that objective.