France urges Turkey to stop Kurdish bombing in Syria

France's foreign ministry has urged Turkey to cease bombing on Kurdish areas in Syria and called on the Assad regime to halt assaults.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

15 February, 2016

Turkish Army howitzers shell YPG targets in the Azaz Town of Syria's Aleppo [Getty]

France has urged Turkey to halt its shelling of Kurdish areas in Syria in a statement released on Sunday.

The statement also called on the Syrian regime and it's allies to cease their bombings across the country.

The French foreign ministry urged for an "immediate cessation of all bombardments, those of the regime and its allies across the country, and those of Turkey in Kurdish areas."

The statement comes amid a second day of Turkish shelling of Kurdish YPG militias in northern Syria, following the YPG's advance into opposition held territory near the Turkish border.

Ankara views the YPG militas as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK], which has waged a three-decade-old insurgency for autonomy in southeast Turkey.

The statement released on the French foreign ministry website stated that priorities should be focused on the implementation of the Munich deal and a road-map for peace-talks in Syria, as well as the fight against Islamic State group [IS] militants.

"Absolute priority is the implementation of the Munich statement and Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council, as the fight against Daesh," it said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

France has been an ardent opponent of the Assad regime since the onset of popular protests against his rule in 2011.

Amid increased calls for Assad to step down in 2012, France became one of the first Western nations to provide aid to Syrian opposition groups.

In 2013 following reports that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against civilians in the Ghouta region of Damascus, Paris led calls for international military intervention against the regime.

Last year however France focused its efforts towards IS group militants, participating in airstrikes by the US-led coalition which escalated following the Paris attacks in November last year.