Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz made a statement during an anti-terrorism ministerial meeting in Washington, in which he spoke about "efforts" of Turkey in struggle against terrorists groups, Hurriyet reports.
"When we receive timely and useful intelligence, we are able to stop or deport them. Foreign fighters are our common enemy", - Turkish Defense Minister noted.
In his speech Yılmaz stated that Turkey has deported 1,112 foreigners, who were attempting to join the Islamic State. This number of detained foreign fighters presented by Turkish Defense Minister was higher from the data previously presented by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (Çavuşoğlu spoke about 1.065 foreign fighters).
No doubt this statement of the Turkish Defense Minister in Washington pursued concrete objective of addressing recent criticism against Turkey by the West and other countries, according to which Turkey cooperates with terrorist organizations in the region.