Former French President of the Republic, Francoise Hollande said: "I had to work, within the framework of the coalition, with the Kurds of Syria. They were our main ground support for fighting Daesh, our planes were able to maneuver through this joint action. And through this discreet cooperation, on the ground, we have contributed with the Kurds to the eradication of Daesh in the north of the country, up to Raqqa. Kurds have been and are allies."

Hollande made the remarks in an interview with the paper Le Parisienne. Asked how to stop Turkey, the former French President said: "This offensive was made possible only because Donald Trump himself committed the fault of providing an opportunity to President Erdogan: he withdrew US soldiers who were in a buffer security zone. His successive reversals did the rest."

Now, Hollande added "there are three decisions to make. The first is to restore the buffer zone, with the return of the American soldiers. It's up to the US administration. Second, the Security Council meeting on Thursday must decide on sanctions against Turkey if the offensive continues, and the European Union must immediately do the same. Third decision: the Kurds are our allies, they led the fight against Daesh. Turkey is a member of NATO. How to admit that a country that is in an alliance with us can attack a force that has been our main partner against Daesh. So the question of Turkey's relationship with NATO is posed."

Hollande suggested that Turkey should be suspended by NATO. "It is a decision for the NATO council to take. The status quo would be untenable because the Atlantic Alliance treaty states that when one of its members is attacked, there is an automatic reaction from other countries."