ANKARA
Turkey will be in control of detained Daesh terrorists if the prisons they are being held are located in the planned safe zone, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday.
“Our responsibility is to make sure that they will be held accountable for what they did. And we will make sure that they will not be released,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in the capital Ankara.
The Turkish Interior, Justice, National Defense and Foreign Ministries as well as intelligence have a coordination working group on the issue, he said.
Women and children should be rehabilitated as another aspect of the fight against Daesh, he added.
“So in every aspect of Daesh — fighting, dealing with these prisoners, and [rehabilitating] the women and children — Turkey has been doing its best and will also do what it has to do in Syria as well,” he said.
Cavusoglu stressed that if the camps or prisons are not within the planned safe zone, there will be nothing Turkey can do to be in control of the detained Daesh terrorists.
“The U.S and others made very clear that they will be staying in the southern part of the planned safe zone that we are going to establish. So, it will be under the responsibility of Americans and the others,” said Cavusoglu.
“If those camps and prisons are in the area that the regime is controlling right now, it is the responsibility of the regime, and I cannot take the responsibility of the terrorists that are not under my control,” he added.
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