Turkey rejects U.S., French calls for ceasefire in Afrin

Turkey forcefully rejected on Wednesday Western calls to suspend its offensive in northwest Syria, saying the United States misunderstood the extent of a U.N. ceasefire resolution and accusing France of giving “false information” on the issue.

According to Reuters Ankara has said the United Nations resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across Syria does not apply to its five-week-old military operation in Afrin against the Kurdish YPG militia.

Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman said a U.S. State Department appeal that Turkey “go back and read” the ceasefire resolution was unfounded, and he also denied that Paris had told Ankara that the truce also applied to its Afrin campaign.

On Monday French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he had told Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan that the U.N. demand “applied to all of Syria, including Afrin, and should be implemented everywhere and by all without any delay”.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy challenged that account, saying Macron did not specifically mention Afrin in their telephone conversation about the ceasefire resolution.

“Our reaction regarding the error of giving false information to the public was conveyed to French authorities,” Aksoy said.

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