The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, called on Ankara to exercise restraint in the early hours of the Turkish operation in north-eastern Syria (see EUROPE 12343/13).
A few minutes earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that the Turkish armed forces and the Syrian national army (which is not the Syrian army) had just launched Operation Peace Spring against “PKK/YPG and Daesh terrorists”, with the objective of “neutralizing terrorist threats against Turkey and leading to the creation of a safe area, facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their homes”.
“Turkey has security problems at its border with Syria. However, I call on Turkey and other actors to act with restraint and put an end to the operations that are already under way”, Mr Juncker stressed during a debate in the European Parliament.
According to the President of the Commission, this military action will not produce good results. “We must draw the attention of our Turkish friends to this point”, he said. “If the Turkish plan provides for the creation of a so-called security zone, do not expect the EU to pay for it”, he told Turkish authorities.
A debate in the European Parliament in the presence of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on this Turkish offensive in north-eastern Syria was scheduled for the evening of 9 October (EUROPE will return to this).
At NATO, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he expects Turkey, a member of the Alliance, to act with restraint and ensure that progress in the fight against the Islamic state organisation is not compromised. He announced that he would discuss this subject with Mr Erdogan on Friday during his visit to Turkey. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)