Turkey Slams Deal Allowing Escape of ISIS Militants from Raqqa

By Abdullah Ayasun On Nov 15, 2017

Turkey, Raqqa, Islamic State, YPG, Department of Defense, Turkish Foreign Ministry — Islamic State fighters parade in victory in a 2014 file photo from Raqqa.

Turkey has sharply criticized a deal between Syrian Kurdish militia and Islamic State militants from the city of Raqqa, the former capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate, saying that it “appalled” by the stance of U.S. Department of Defense.

On Sunday, BBC reported that nearly 4,000 ISIS militants had been evacuated from Raqqa as part of the deal between the extremist group and the U.S.-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG). The ISIS fighters, including foreign nationals, then spread across Syria and as far as Turkish border.

“Seeing that statements from the spokespeople of the international coalition against Islamic State and the U.S. Department of Defence have not denied the existence of the given agreement, but to the contrary said they ‘respected’ it is appalling,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry regarded the withdrawal of ISIS militants as “extremely troubling.”

“The agreement in question has become an example that if a battle is carried out a with a terrorist organization, those terrorist organizations will eventually opt to cooperate with each other,” the statement said.