Differences in NATO & France’s Adjustments in Its Turkey Stance

2019/12/11 | interview, political, top news

Strategic Council Online: An expert on European affairs, referring to a quartet summit of Europe and Turkey on Syria on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London, said: Turkey has been seeking a series of political concessions over developments in northern Syria in recent years.

Speaking to the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations on the quartet meeting of heads of state of Turkey, Germany, France and Britain, Ali Rezvanpour added that the Turkish invasion of northern Syria raised concerns among NATO member states and the security zone created by Turkey on its southern border with Syria does not have the support of NATO. That is why we have witnessed a war of words between Erdogan and Macron on this matter.

 

No Consensus on Definition of Terrorism in NATO

Another notable point of the recent meeting of the four countries was lack of consensus among NATO members on the definition of terrorism and its evidences, he said. For example, France has called the PKK and groups fighting directly against Turkey terrorists, but has not taken a clear stance on its support for the Kurds in northern Syria and has stated that he does not equate the different political and military groups with each other and openly disagrees with Ankara in this respect.

Rezvanpour noted: “Even after this meeting, Macron made it clear that France disagreed with Turkey over the definition of the term terrorism and its application to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, and there was no theoretical consensus between the two sides.”

He stated that the European Union could not take a common stance in condemning the Turkish invasion of northern Syria. He added: “Under Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), collective defense has been emphasized, but in practice we saw that although Turkish troops penetrated 30 km deep inside Syria no party resorted to Article Five.

 

NATO Does Not Support Turkey

Referring to Turkey’s plan submitted to NATO, he said according to Turkey’s defense plan considering that NATO is required to show reaction to any attack launched from north of Syria on Turkish territory Ankara has asked NATO to declare the Kurdish militias in northern Syria a threat against Turkey and designate them as terrorists.

After the United States withdrew its support for the plan followed by several other countries, Ankara announced that if the Turkish scheme is not approved Ankara will not support other defense schemes such as the Baltic and Polish defense plans.

Noting that there is division between Turkey and NATO leaders on Syria, Rezvanpour said: “We need to keep in mind that NATO needs Turkey because it acts as a defense shield to prevent terrorists from leaving Syria. Therefore, NATO members have to interact in their dealings with the Erdogan government on issues that have occurred in northern Syria, and to adapt to policies pursued to prevent terrorism from penetrating European soil.

 

NATO’s Internal Differences

He added: “Despite European concerns about Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria, the NATO secretary general said at a news conference that NATO leaders had not talked about the militias of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which is a terrorist organization in Turkey’s view.”

Rezvanpour emphasized that the German Chancellor at the end of the meeting also referred to the differences between the member states regarding the issues with Turkey, adding that the heads of the four countries, Britain, France, Germany and Turkey only stressed the need to stop all attacks on Syrian civilians, including residents of Idlib. In fact, Europe wants Turkey to refrain from attacking civilians and the city of Idlib and to provide a suitable platform for displaced refugees in Europe to allow for the voluntary and gradual return of Syrian refugees to their country, but from their point of view none of them have yet been fully realized.

At the same time, he said, Turkey feels that as a defense shield against penetration of terrorism into Europe for years, it may emerge as the main loser. This in fact was the main reason for Turkey’s attack on Syria.

 

Europe’s Attempt to Appease Turkey

The international analyst, referring to the satisfaction of the negotiators at the four-nation summit on Syria, added: France did not refer to its criticism of Turkey at the end of the meeting, only stating that “we want to fight ISIS and we want to work together and have no conflict.”Turkey is a barrier to terrorism’s penetration into Europe and we must cooperate with it.” France seems to be lagging behind and wants to interact with Turkey.

Referring to NATO’s criticism of Turkey for purchasing S-400 missiles from Russia, Macron said, everyone has a responsibility vis-à-vis European security, and has some awareness of that. Turkey is a great country and it has a respectable culture and we need to work with Turkey.” Here Macron is actually trying to temper the atmosphere created between Ankara and Paris.

 

NATO’s Silence against US Looting

Concerning European countries’ silence on US looting of at least $45 million in Syrian oil resources, he said: “Because of lack of a joint decision-making structure among NATO members, the outcome of these meetings is not very tangible.”

“They did not mention this. The contradiction, division and disagreement among the members are quite clear.

Rezvanpour added: The EU is an economic giant, but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has in practice shown to be a political dwarf.

NATO, with EU states being members of the alliance has virtually failed to deliver a positive and acceptable performance on tensions along its borders, the expert said. NATO is inconsistent in adopting a common approach on addressing these threats, and has adopted the same policy on Syria. The alliance has not even mentioned Trump’s pledge to plunder Syria’s oil because the United States has not allowed the EU to take an independent initiative on Syria.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LATEST CONTENT

Zionist Regime’s Post-War Map for Gaza

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on Middle East issues said: After nearly 150 days have passed since the attacks of Israeli planes on Gaza and the unprecedented genocide in this city, regional and international efforts to end the Gaza crisis have intensified.

Reasons for Inaction & Inefficiency of Intl Organizations in Providing Aid to Gaza

Strategic Council Online: An expert on regional issues said: With the start of the Gaza war, many major powers and international organizations not only did not take honest action to support the defenseless Palestinian people, but instead, with their support for the actions of the Zionist regime, they caused their crimes to increase over the past five months.

France and the Two-State Solution in Occupied Territories

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on regional issues said: The announcement of France’s agreement with the formation of two states in the Occupied Territories is a measure to raise the international image of France and reduce domestic pressure on the Macron government for inaction against the Israeli crimes in Gaza.

The Prospect of US Military Withdrawal from Iraq

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: Although most currents, politicians and even ordinary people in Iraq call for withdrawal of American military forces from their country, there are sometimes differences of opinion regarding the time of this withdrawal. On the one hand, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of Iraq, is very serious in demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Still, he wants to achieve this goal through “negotiation and political deal”. On the other hand, the Iraqi Resistance groups want the Americans to leave this country as soon as possible. The American side is also talking about a military withdrawal from Iraq in the next three years.

Russia’s Multifaceted Relations with Neighbors

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An international affairs expert said: After Russia attacked Ukraine two years ago, the country’s relations with some of its European neighbors were severely disturbed in such a way that a clear future cannot be imagined for it.

Solution to Get Out of FATF Blacklist and Get Rid of Its Heavy Costs?

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: The Financial Action Task Force, FATF, announced on Friday, February 23, that the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains on the “blacklist” of this international organization. A decision that was not unexpected for the authorities of our country. According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, one day before the release of the FATF statement, due to the current sanctions, Iran is looking for its own FATF, as it uses other tools instead of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications). On this basis, it seems that while the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon were removed from the “Grey List” of FATF in the previous reviews in June 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not trying to be exempted from the blacklist. But what kind of organization is FATF, and why are some in Iran against joining it? And what is the way out of this situation?

Loading

Últimas publicaciones

Zionist Regime’s Post-War Map for Gaza

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on Middle East issues said: After nearly 150 days have passed since the attacks of Israeli planes on Gaza and the unprecedented genocide in this city, regional and international efforts to end the Gaza crisis have intensified.

Reasons for Inaction & Inefficiency of Intl Organizations in Providing Aid to Gaza

Strategic Council Online: An expert on regional issues said: With the start of the Gaza war, many major powers and international organizations not only did not take honest action to support the defenseless Palestinian people, but instead, with their support for the actions of the Zionist regime, they caused their crimes to increase over the past five months.

France and the Two-State Solution in Occupied Territories

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on regional issues said: The announcement of France’s agreement with the formation of two states in the Occupied Territories is a measure to raise the international image of France and reduce domestic pressure on the Macron government for inaction against the Israeli crimes in Gaza.

The Prospect of US Military Withdrawal from Iraq

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: Although most currents, politicians and even ordinary people in Iraq call for withdrawal of American military forces from their country, there are sometimes differences of opinion regarding the time of this withdrawal. On the one hand, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of Iraq, is very serious in demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Still, he wants to achieve this goal through “negotiation and political deal”. On the other hand, the Iraqi Resistance groups want the Americans to leave this country as soon as possible. The American side is also talking about a military withdrawal from Iraq in the next three years.

Russia’s Multifaceted Relations with Neighbors

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An international affairs expert said: After Russia attacked Ukraine two years ago, the country’s relations with some of its European neighbors were severely disturbed in such a way that a clear future cannot be imagined for it.

Solution to Get Out of FATF Blacklist and Get Rid of Its Heavy Costs?

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: The Financial Action Task Force, FATF, announced on Friday, February 23, that the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains on the “blacklist” of this international organization. A decision that was not unexpected for the authorities of our country. According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, one day before the release of the FATF statement, due to the current sanctions, Iran is looking for its own FATF, as it uses other tools instead of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications). On this basis, it seems that while the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon were removed from the “Grey List” of FATF in the previous reviews in June 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not trying to be exempted from the blacklist. But what kind of organization is FATF, and why are some in Iran against joining it? And what is the way out of this situation?

Loading