Local Editor

Davutoglo

Turkey will not send ground troops into neighboring Syria where it has been bombing ISIL positions, a campaign that could "change the balance" in the region, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying on Monday.

"We will not send ground forces," Davutoglu told a group of Turkish newspaper editors according to the Hurriyet daily.

"We do not want to see ISIL on our border," the Hurriyet daily quoted him as saying.

Turkey has launched a two-pronged "anti-terror" cross-border offensive against 'jihadists' and Kurdish fighters after a wave of violence in the country, pounding their positions with air strikes and artillery.

The Turkish military on Sunday launched new strikes on Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq as Ankara called a meeting of the NATO military alliance over its campaign against the PKK armed men and ISIL 'jihadists'.

Davutoglu said Turkish strikes against ISIL and PKK fighters in Iraq and Syria would "change the balance" in the region.

Turkey has given a green-light to the United States on the use of a key air base near Syria for bombings against ISIL targets.

The landmark deal to use Incirlik air base in southern Turkey comes after months of tough negotiations between Turkish and US officials.

Davutoglu declined to provide details of the agreement but said the concerns of Ankara, which had been pressing for a no-fly zone, were addressed "to a certain extent."