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Tunisia denies accusing Turkey of aiding Jihadists to enter Syria

Xinhua, April 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Tunisia denied on Saturday that the nation's top diplomat was trying to accuse Turkey of aiding Tunisian Jihadists to enter Syria.

The clarifying statement came one day after Turkey summoned Tunisian ambassador in Ankara, and asked for explanation over foreign minister Taieb Baccouche's remarks claiming Turkey has facilitated the traveling of jihadist fighters to neighboring Syria and Iraq.

Baccouche said on Thursday that his country has asked its ambassador in Turkey to draw the attention of the Turkish authorities to the fact that it does not want a Muslim nation such as Turkey to help directly or indirectly terrorism in Libya by facilitating the movements of terrorists.

Turkey is a "passage point" for fighters who travel to Syria or for those who go to Libya and then infiltrate the porous border into Tunisia, Baccouche added.

Touhami Abdouli, Tunisia's deputy foreign minister, Baccouche's earlier words were taken out of context.

An earlier report also said that ambassador of Tunisia to Turkey Mohamed Salah Tekaya said his country by no means accused Ankara.

Tekaya also said his government appreciated Turkey for sending Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus to attend a rally marking a terrorist attack on Tunis' Bardo Museum.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that around 1,154 foreign fighters have been deported from Turkey and that 19,500 people are banned from traveling to the country.

Ankara has stepped up border security since 2014, amid mounting criticism that it has not done enough to halt the flow of foreign fighters into the region, particularly from Western countries. Endit