WASHINGTON, March 29 (Sputnik) — It is unfair to request of Turkey to deploy soldiers in Syria to fight the Islamic State, or Daesh, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a speech in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
"You cannot ask Turkey to send boots on the ground just because Turkey is the immediate neighbor or Daesh is first and foremost threat to Turkish security. This is not fair," Cavusoglu stated at the US George Washington University. "It is not the responsibility of only the United States or Turkey [to send troops]."
The Islamic State (also known as Daesh/ISIS/ISIL) is a designated terrorist group outlawed in the United States, Russia and numerous other countries. It has seized large areas in Syria and Iraq and declared an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
A US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq since the summer of 2014.
