Turkey warned France that it is pointless to maintain its military presence in Syria to protect the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
"If France is staying to contribute to Syria's future, great, but if they are doing this to protect the (militia), this will bring no benefit to anyone," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters according to state news agency Anadolu.
Cavusoglu hit out at France's "support" of the YPG, which he said was "no secret", pointing to a meeting French President Emmanuel Macron had held on Friday with the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF).
The YPG serves as the military backbone of the SDF.
Turkey views the YPG as terrorist organization affiliated to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara, the US and the European Union.
France is part of the international anti-terrorism coalition led by the US in Syria and Iraq. It dispatched military pilots and artillery soldiers to carry out bombings. Several sources also reported the deployment of French special forces in Syrian territory, but Paris has not confirmed this information.
Last week, US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 US ground forces that had been in Syria to provide training to the YPG under the SDF.
The shock move put allies on the backfoot, with Macron on Sunday saying: "An ally must be reliable".
On Sunday, Macron avoided commenting on the demands made by two representatives of the "Syrian Democratic Council" after Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.
He summed up by the situation by announcing Paris "regrets" the US decision, given that the mission to terminate ISIS was not over yet, adding that the SDF should not be abandoned and allies should not be “left in the middle of the road.”
France confirmed it will remain in the alliance despite the US withdrawal.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara will intervene in the coming months against ISIS and the YPG.
