Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of being a 'sponsor of terrorism' after he critiqued Turkey's offensive in Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia.
Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist organisation and launched its offensive in northeast Syria on October 9.
Last month, Mr Macron met with Jihane Ahmed of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the YPG is a big part, to express France's solidarity with them in their fight against Islamic State in Syria.
On Thursday, President Macron insisted Turkey cannot expect solidarity from NATO allies at the same time that it launched its Syria offensive as a "fait accompli."
But Mr Cavusoglu hit back in Turkey's parliament, insisting "He (Macon) is already the sponsor of the terrorist organisation and constantly hosts them at the Elysee. If he says his ally is the terrorist organisation...there is really nothing more to say."
The Kurdish Democratic Forces launch an offensive to capture the jihadist group Islamic State's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa in 2017. Source: AAP
He added: "Macron cannot be the leader of Europe by wobbling like this. Right now, there is a void in Europe, he is trying to be its leader."
NATO suffering 'brain death'
French President Emmanuel Macron called for intensive talks among NATO members over European security on Thursday, ahead of a summit of NATO leaders in London next week.
Mr Macron held discussions with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Paris.
At a joint press conference, Mr Macron posed a series of questions about NATO, an organisation that he described as "brain dead" just a few weeks ago, a charge that was criticised by others within the alliance.
But yesterday he said he was glad his recent comments have acted as a "wake-up call" and that it was "irresponsible" to just talk about financial and technical matters.
"A real alliance is action, decisions, not words. So, I want us to have a real dialogue among allies," he insisted.
Mr Macron has been critical of Nato's failure to respond to Turkey's offensive. Source: AFP
Macron said NATO needs to focus on what it is about, to resolve a series of questions, such as how to maintain peace in Europe, relations with Russia, the role of Turkey in NATO and who the alliance's enemies might be.
NATO's relations with Russia have been arguably at their frostiest since the end of the Cold War as a result Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
He added that the alliance needs to focus on the common enemy, which he said is neither Russia nor China, but extremist groups.
