Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Turkey will prevent Islamic State fighters from leaving northeastern Syria, where the Turkish army launched an offensive against Kurdish forces a few days ago.
"We are making sure that no member of the Islamic State leaves the northeast of Syria," Erdogan said in a text that was reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Erdogan wants to calm the concerns of Western countries who fear the revival of the Islamic State and the escape of jihadists held captive by Kurdish forces.
"We are ready to cooperate with the countries of origin (of jihadists) and international organizations on the fate of women and children of foreign terrorist fighters," the Turkish president said.
Ankara on Monday accused Kurdish forces of deliberately releasing members of the Islamic State group from a camp in northeastern Syria to cause a "chaotic situation" in the region.
Erdogan criticized Western countries that "share lessons with Turkey" on the fight against jihadists, considering that those countries failed in 2014 and 2015 to prevent the arrival of foreign fighters.
The Turkish president also criticized France for suspending arms sales to Turkey because of the offensive in Syria.
The Turkish offensive was condemned by a large part of the international community.
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