Turkey refuses to be drawn over Syrian fighters claim

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkey's Foreign Ministry has refused to be drawn on claims about dozens of locally trained fighters crossing the country's southern border this week to fight Daesh in northern Syria.

Speaking on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic told reporters in Ankara that he could not give information about "operational issues".

He was speaking after claims that 54 people, who had been part of an internationally backed train-and-equip program in Turkey, had gone to Syria on Tuesday.

Bilgic instead emphasized government claims that 15,000 people have been banned from entering the country and more than 1,500 people had been repatriated as Turkey seeks to contain fighting in neighboring Syria.

Regarding a question on reports of a British citizen who joined Daesh but who was now staying at camps in Turkey, Bilgic said: "About this issue, claims that blacken Turkey were made before; none of them were true."

He stated that Turkey and the U.K. are in close cooperation on security issues.