ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkey is worried about the members of the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group fleeing to Turkey when they are chased out of the Iraqi city of Mosul, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday.
On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of the military operation to retake Mosul from Daesh militants. Iraqi troops and their allies, including local Sunni militias, and US-led coalition support are involved in the offensive.
"When IS militants are ousted from Mosul, where will they go? Not to France or Germany, but to Turkey, which is closer, and that is a threat to us," Kurtulmus said at a press conference.
Mosul, the second biggest Iraqi city, as well as a number of other northern and western Iraqi cities and towns was seized in 2014 during an offensive of Daesh, a jihadist group outlawed in Russia.
