Turkey rejects French mediation offer with Kurdish militia

ANKARA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Friday strongly slammed French President Emmanuel Macron's meeting with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) representatives, and rejected his offer to mediate with the group which is mainly composed by Syrian Kurdish militia.

"We do not need a mediator. Since when has Turkey been sitting at a table with terrorist organizations?" Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, describing Macron's move as "nothing but a hostile expression against Turkey."

"We reject any efforts to promote 'dialogue', 'contact' or 'mediation' between Turkey and those terrorist organizations," Ibrahim Kalin, presidential spokesperson said early Friday through his Twitter account.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slammed such high level of meeting with of a terrorist organization demonstrates France's "double standard."

On Thursday, French President Macron met a delegation of Kurdish and Arab fighters from SDF and after the meeting he offered to facilitate dialogue between the two sides.

Macron said the SDF had "no operational link with this terrorist group," referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), adding that "a dialogue could be established between the SDF and Turkey with the assistance of France and the international community."

Turkey sees the SDF as the Syrian branch of PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the EU. Enditem