Nidal Hamadah

Western diplomatic sources in Paris have revealed that French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius are furious at US President Barack Obama's policy towards the issue of Iran's nuclear program, pointing out that the frustration of Paris has increased after the green light given by Washington to Ankara to launch a war on the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The sources say that "France considers the Kurds a reliable and strategic ally in the region for Paris and the West".

The diplomatic sources, in an interview with al-Ahed News website, drew attention to the fact that "Obama lifted the [political] cover off the Kurds and allowed Erdogan to wage war on them, in exchange for allowing NATO planes, especially US planes, to use the Incirlik air base to strike the Daesh organization in Iraq and Syria". It further explains that the French intelligence apparatus sent a report to the Elysee Palace in this regard, in which it said that Turkey will not target Daesh, but rather, it will take advantage of this agreement with the United States in order to strike the Kurds, who are fighting Daesh in Syria and Iraq.

The sources added that "since the summer of 2014, France sent military experts to aid the Kurds in Arbil and Sinjar", explaining that these experts are still present in Iraqi Kurdistan. The sources also referred to the strong French support for the Kurdish forces, especially in the field of intelligence, where France provides the Kurds with satellite images of the movement of Daesh in both Syria and Iraq.

The sources confirm that the satellite images given by France to the Kurds during the battle of Kobani Ein al-Arab played an important role in the steadfastness of the Kurds in the city, noting that the Kurds paid a heavy price in their conflict with ‘Daesh' within a year of fighting, during which they lost nearly 600 people in the city of Ein al-Arab Kobani, from the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units and the Peshmerga.

According to the sources, Turkey deems Greece and Bulgaria as the major obstacles in the way of its admission into the European Union, so it was waiting for the expulsion of Greece from the Union, but France worked hard for Athens to remain within the group. Furthermore, the sources add that Ankara believes that the reason why Paris strongly works in favor of the continuation of Greece's membership in the European Union is due to French fears that Germany may work to replace Greece with Turkey. All of this goes back to the First World War, so the sources say, adding that "It is no coincidence that the majority of foreign workers in Germany are Turks, in the first war, the Ottoman Empire was an ally of Germany against France. This bilateral European relationship [France - Germany] is burdened by history, and Europe has tried to hide these facts".

While there is the presence of a large Turkish community in Germany, there is also a considerable Kurdish community in France, where the PKK own properties and important headquarters. Also present in France is the French division of the Brussels political leadership of the PKK in the diasporas, and hence France considers the Kurds its main ally in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

The sources say ‘the latest French intelligence reports confirmed that the Kurds are the only military force capable of fighting ‘Daesh' in Syria, while Iraqi-French relations remain hostage to French commitment to Saudi policy and the negative stance towards Iran, which makes the Kurds in Iraq the main ally of France in the absence of the possibility of an alliance with Daesh, and that it is unlikely that these French stances will witness a change any time soon following the nuclear agreement between Iran and the West'. The diplomatic sources concluded that ‘this is despite the visit of the French Foreign Minister to Tehran , and the inviting of President Rouhani to Paris, as political differences and problems require some time in order for trust to be established between the two parties'.