ISTANBUL/AKCAKALE: Turkey accused Kurdish militia in northern Syria of persecuting civilians on Tuesday and said it saw signs of “a kind of ethnic cleansing,” drawing a parallel to the actions of Daesh and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

Syrian Kurdish-led forces captured the town of Tel Abyad on the Turkish border on Monday from Daesh, driving the terrorists away in an advance backed by US-led air strikes.

Turkey is uncomfortable with the gains by Kurdish militia, which now control almost half of the Syrian side of Turkey’s 900-km border, fearing it could inflame separatist sentiment among its own Kurdish minority.

“Daesh attacks and kills those it captures. PYD/PKK (Kurdish militias) seize certain regions and force people living there to migrate,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish state broadcaster TRT.

“It doesn’t matter who comes; the regime, Daesh, the PYD, they are all persecuting civilians.”

He said the latest fighting had triggered a new influx of refugees to Turkey, already hosting 1.8 million Syrians, and that more than 23,000 people had crossed in the past week.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said late on Monday there were signs “pointing toward a kind of ethnic cleansing” by both Kurdish and radical groups as they fought in northern Syria. “We see signs that work is being done on a formula to bring in other elements and combine cantons,” Arinc told reporters, referring to two regions controlled by Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

On Sunday, the Kurdish YPG militia denied accusations of oppression or that a “racist war” was taking place.

In a statement published online it urged civilians to return to cities controlled by Syrian Kurds, guaranteeing their safety.