Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç held a press conference on Wednesday where he said that Turkey has formally signed a deal with the U.S. opening its İncirlik Airbase to the U.S.-led coalition against the ISIS militants.

Underlining that the agreement signed with the U.S. only targets the fight against ISIS and does not include air support to PKK-affiliated Kurdish militants in northern Syria - referring to the People's Protection Units (YPG) - Bilgiç added that while Turkey had approved coalition strikes from İncirlik Air Base, it also approved usage of three other emergency bases located in Malatya, Diyarbakır and Batman. Continuing his statements, Bilgiç dismissed U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby's statements, in which he claimed that the U.S. aims to further extend its help actively to the YPG through the use of the İncirlik base. The Foreign Ministry spokesman firmly underlined that the agreement made does not contain any consent to providing aid to YPG militants. Additionally, regarding establishing a safe zone, Bilgiç clarified that the determined area will rather be a zone cleared of all terror factions and that it will be protected by the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Bilgiç in his statements further indicated that the zone will be prepared in a way that is in line with those Syrian refugees who wish to return to their homes.