Erdogan: '5,000' Syria-bound militants barred from Turkey

Turkey has barred entry to more than 5,000 Islamist militants seeking entry to Syria, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. 

"We have banned entry to more than 5,000 people from abroad who were planning to join the radical groups in Syria. We are detaining suspected terrorists and deporting them. We have deported more than 824 people since 2012," Erdogan said during a televised address to EU ambassadors in Ankara. 

Erdogan said the foreign militants were a threat to Turkey's national security and called for closer cooperation between Ankara and European countries to fight terrorism.

Turkey has a long and porous border with Syria stretching from the Mediterranean to Iraq which has made it the main transit point for foreign rebels seeking to fight the Syrian regime.

Several dozen Turkish nationals are currently being held hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

Some western analysts and regional players have accused Erdogan's government of aiding terrorism by not cracking down sufficiently hard on militant groups, like ISIL, although the Turkish authorities have long denied these allegations. 

“The Turkish state denies that it is helping [ISIL]. Whatever happens, it happens ‘without our knowledge.’” Salih Muslim, co-chairman of the Syrian Kurdish organisation the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told news site Al-Monitor in a recent interview. “But [ISIL] contradicts that. For example last week they said, ‘Two militants joined us through Gaziantep-Karkamis crossing [100km north east of Aleppo.]’ I don’t think they would lie. Why should they?”

Syria continues to be gripped by almost constant fighting which has left more than 6.5 million people internally displaced, according to the United Nations. Nearly 2.5 million Syrians are also registered as refugees in neighbouring countries including Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.

“Turkey has spent $2.5bn on Syrian refugees so far, while the international community - especially EU countries - have not given significant aid, donating only $250m,” Erdogan said.

More than 100,000 people have been killed during the three-year conflict in Syria, which began after the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict that spiralled into a civil war.