Turkey ready to take over prisons holding ISIS members in Syria, Fidan says

The Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated on Tuesday that his country is ready to take control of prisons where members of the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) are held in Syria.

"If others cannot handle (the prisons), we will take control of them as Turkey with our soldiers," Fidan said during an interview with CNN Turk. "We are ready to do this as Turkey," he added, emphasizing that he is following the directives given to him by Turkish President Erdogan.

Around a dozen such prisons, holding several thousand detainees in total, are located in northern Syria in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). However, Ankara considers the SDF as an affiliate of the PKK and seeks to dismantle or disarm them.