Germany's foreign minister has described Turkey's offensive against Syrian Kurds as an "invasion" and said Berlin saw it as illegitimate. But the Turkish president's spokesman said Ankara's forces merited gratitude.
"After everything we know and after everything that Turkey itself has cited as a legal basis, we cannot share that view," Maas said in remarks broadcast by the public broadcaster ZDF.
"We do not believe that an attack on Kurdish units or Kurdish militias is legitimate under international law," the foreign minister added.
His comments were echoed by other top officials, including Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
At a conservative party congress, she said Turkey was violating the "basis of the post-World War II order," whereby conflicts should be solved by diplomacy instead of force.
Who are the major players in northern Syria?
The US withdrawal of troops from Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria and the launch of the Turkish offensive have created a complicated web of actors, from Russia to Syrian government troops.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Staff Sgt. A. Goedl
US: Troop pullback
Over the past years, US troops have supported Kurdish fighters as they battled radical "Islamic State" (IS) militants to take back control of large areas of northern Syria. In what was seen as a surprising turnaround, US President Donald Trump announced in early October that he was withdrawing US troops from the region's border with Turkey. This pullback left a vacuum for others to act and react.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/Staff Sgt. A. Goedl
Turkey: Anti-Kurdish offensive
Trump's troop withdrawal was a de-facto go-ahead for Turkey to launch an offensive into northeast Syria. The region is home to a largely autonomous Kurdish population and Kurdish militants known as the YPG, who are tied to an outlawed Kurdish party in Turkey. Turkey, who has faced a Kurdish insurgency, sees the Syrian Kurds as a threat to its security, hence the military action.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/M. Akif Parlak
Kurdish YPG: Fighting Turkish forces
The YPG was one of the US' main allies in the fight to drive out IS from north Syria, but since October it has been fighting the Turkish forces that crossed into Syria. The YPG lacks strong air capabilities and defenses, putting it at a decided disadvantage in comparison to the Turkish army.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Souleiman
SDF: Betrayed by the US
The YPG is the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which also includes Arab and Christian militias. The SDF, which fought IS, controls northeastern Syria and feels betrayed by the US pullback. It is now fighting Turkish troops and their allies. It has warned that the Turkish offensive could distract from making sure IS fighters do not renew their strength in Syria.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/D. Souleiman
Syrian government army: Deal made
The relationship between Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops and the SDF is a tricky one that shifts between cooperation, live-and-let-live and skirmishes, depending on the current situation. After Turkey launched its offensive, the Kurds struck a deal with the government that saw Syrian troops mobilized to fight the Turkish forces, allowing them to enter a region they had ceded to the SDF.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Russia: Stepping up, stepping in
Russia has consistently backed the government of Syrian President Assad (L, with Putin in 2018) and assisted its forces. After US troops pulled out of the Kurdish areas, Russia moved its troops in to act as a buffer for Syrian government forces advancing towards the Turkish army. Moscow wants Syria to remain united and has accused the US of creating parallel structures in the Kurdish region.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Klimentyev
SNA: Turkey's Syrian allies
Turkey also has allies among Syrian fighters. The Syrian National Army (SNA), also known as the Free Syrian Army, is a Syrian rebel group that has fought against the SDF and Assad's government. Backed by Turkey, SNA fighters took part in previous Turkish offensives against Kurdish militias inside Syria. Currently, thousands of SNA fighters are fighting the YPG alongside Turkish forces.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/B. Kasim
IS: A renewed role?
One possible future actor is IS. While it was essentially defeated in March 2019, tens of thousands of its fighters and their families remain in prisons or guarded camps in the Kurdish area of the country. Nearly a thousand alone have already escaped from a camp that was caught in the fighting between Kurdish militias and Turkish forces. Should the situation grow more unstable, IS could regroup.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Alleruzzo
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Turkey has cited links between the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting against the Turkish state as justification to clear its border of "terrorists" in self-defense.
Since the Turkish military and its rebel proxies launched the offensive on October 9, at least 160,000 people have been displaced and scores killed. Human rights organizations have warned that the Turkish-led offensive may have committed war crimes, including targeting civilians and carrying out summary executions.
"We have been very clear that we are keeping other measures open — and they might also include economic sanctions."
According to a survey conducted by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen pollster, 91% of Germans are against arms exports to Turkey and 65% support punitive economic measures against the country due to its offensive in Syria.
Refugee deal in crisis?
Maas also said Sunday that Berlin would aim to end to the fighting. "We will do everything for this truce to last longer than just the five days, and that the invasion is stopped for the time being," he said.
EU leaders also oppose the idea of relocating up to 2 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey into a proposed "safe zone" in northeast Syria.
"We also do not agree that Syrian civil war refugees who are now in Turkey are then sent to northeast Syria in this way into this security zone, possibly against their will," Maas said.
He said the topic should be discussed with Ankara together with the EU-Turkey migration deal, which sees Brussels pay billions to Turkey to host 3.6 million civil war refugees.
"Because we will not pay money for things that, according to our perspective, are not legitimate or legal," Maas said.
Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Monday contradicted Maas, telling DW that Turkey's "European friends should be thankful to our soldiers for doing this very dangerous but important work" and adding that the cease-fire would not be extended unless all YPG "terrorists" had left the area.
