FRANCE will not take part in a new multinational force to protect Kurds in northern Iraq, the French foreign ministry announced in Paris yesterday.
The new air force will replace Operation Provide Comfort, set up in Turkey after the Gulf war in 1991 and involving Turkey, France, Britain and the US.
In a communique, the ministry said France would not take part because the "humanitarian aspect" of Provide Comfort was no longer included.
"We won't comment on the French move. It's their decision," a senior Turkish foreign ministry official in Ankara said shortly after Paris announced its decision.
The new force has been agreed by Turkey, the US and Britain. Unlike Provide Comfort, the new six month mission - approved by the Turkish parliament on Wednesday - has no ground aspect.
However, US and British aircraft based at Incirlik in southern Turkey will continue to fly surveillance missions over northern Iraq. Despite its decision, the French foreign ministry said France would continue to take part in Operation Southern Watch "alongside its Saudi, American and British partners".
The communique said that "French aircraft would fly only south of the 32nd parallel, although the US extended the no fly zone to the 33rd parallel after an Iraqi offensive against a Kurdish faction early in September.
The communique also reiterated France's "determination to call on Iraq to conform fully with all UN Security Council resolutions so that it can regain its place in the international community".
In September, France briefly suspended its participation in allied missions over southern Iraq, after objecting to the US decision to enlarge the no fly zone and expressing reservations over US missile attacks on Iraqi targets.
Many Turkish MPs have expressed concern about the continuation of the allied operation, saying it could lead to the creation of an independent Kurdish state in the north of Iraq, something Ankara is opposed to at all costs.