Erdogan Accuses Syrian Kurdish Forces Of Releasing IS Terrorists From Prisons

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) of releasing captured militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) from prison amid the ongoing Turkish offensive in Syria

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2019) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) of releasing captured militants of the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) from prison amid the ongoing Turkish offensive in Syria.

"The YPG uses the arrested IS terrorists as a bargaining chip in their negotiations, they began to release them from prisons," Erdogan said at a meeting of the parliamentary faction of the Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party.

Turkey launched its offensive in northern Syria on October 9 in a bid to create a "safe zone" along the border that would be free of Kurdish militias, whom it considers an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party.

According to Kurdish forces, over 800 IS militants managed to escape the Ayn Issa camp in northern Syria on Sunday. On Monday, a high-ranking Turkish source told Sputnik that the YPG had released IS terrorists from a prison in Syria's Tal Abyad before Turkish troops arrived there.