UN Security Council refrains from condemning Turkey

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council discussed Turkey’s intensifying offensive against Kurdish militias and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Syria on Monday but did not condemn or demand an end to the sensitive Turkish operation.

Already scheduled to hear a report from UN aid chief Mark Lowcock on his recent visit to Syria, at France’s request the Security Council also touched on the latest Turkish offensive as well as the Syrian campaign in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed no stepping back to the air and ground offensive seeking to flush out the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia from its enclave of Afrin, despite concern from Ankara’s allies and neighbors.

“It was of course part of the conversation,”



French Ambassador Francois Delattre said of Afrin after the closed-door talks at UN headquarters in New York.

“The call for restraint, I believe, was widely shared during the discussion,” he added, saying that France was “attentive to the security of Turkey, its territories and its borders.”

US Ambassador Nikki Haley did not attend the meeting in person, a diplomatic source said.

Turkey’s operation “Olive Branch” is sensitive as Washington relied on the YPG to oust militants from Daesh from their Syrian strongholds and the Kurdish militia now holds much of Syria’s north.

Western capitals fear the campaign against the YPG could shift the focus away from eliminating Daesh after a string of successes in recent months.