Turkey on Wednesday sharply criticized France and the United States for arguing a ceasefire in Syria should apply to its military operation against Kurdish militia, as new tensions mounted between Ankara and its NATO allies.

The United Nations Security Council has agreed a 30-day nationwide ceasefire in Syria.

Turkey has welcomed the ceasefire but repeatedly insisted any truce will not affect its over month-long operation in the Afrin region against Kurdish militia Ankara believes to be terrorists.

French President Emmanuel Macron told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in telephone talks Monday the ceasefire must be applied across the country “including in Afrin,” the French presidency said.

But the Turkish foreign ministry Wednesday accused Paris of giving a false readout of the conversation, saying Macron did not refer to Afrin in the discussion on the ceasefire.

It said Turkey had informed the French authorities that their statement showed a “lack of candor” and made the error of “misinforming public opinion.”

In Washington meanwhile, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert also insisted that the ceasefire did apply to the Afrin operation.

“Turkey is more than welcome to go back and read the exact text of this UN Security Council resolution, and I would suggest that they do so,” she said.

Nauert argued that only campaigns against ISIL, Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups were exempted from ceasefire.

The Turkish foreign ministry said in a separate statement that Nauert’s comments were “devoid of any basis”, insisting that the Afrin campaign was a fight against “terrorists” and a matter of self defense for Turkey.

Turkey’s operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia has raised tensions with Washington, which works closely with the YPG in Syria.

Source: AFP