India, Turkey 'coordinating' to fight ISIS threat: Envoy

New Delhi, March 28: India and Turkey, an important interlocutor for the country in the region, are closely "coordinating" at the level of operational agencies to combat the threat posed by ISIS, against the backdrop of many Indians being held hostage by Islamic militants.

Interacting with the media on the sidelines of an event here, Ambassador of Turkey to India Burak Akcapar said that people from a "wide array" of countries have joined ISIS, and asserted that the fight against the terror group is going to continue unabated.

The envoy also said Turkey was looking forward to a "bilateral visit" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The PM was in Turkey for the G20 summit but that was not a bilateral visit. We are looking forward to a bilateral visit," he said.

"We are bordering Syria and Iraq which is the base of ISIS and there is no governance beyond these borders. We have been suffering because of that. But we are on the forefront in the fight against terrorism and against ISIS. "Our measures are there, our coordination is there. Whatever cooperation occurs, they occur at the operational agency level.

It's a fact that people have joined ISIS from quite a wide array of countries. The fight against terror organisations is not something that will end this year or next year; it will continue," he said. Asked about the impact of terror strikes on Turkish tourism industry, Akcapar said the situation in neighbouring Syria has "affected" it, but the country shall continue to remain one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world.

"It is not just Turkey. We have a terrorism problem in the world. Turkey is quite experienced in dealing with this. We have this unfortunate situation in Syria and that has affected us but the tourism industry is working very hard to assure people that all is well," Akcapar said.

PTI