Turkey seeks United Nations meeting over Turkmens in Syria

Reports in recent days have suggested Ankara wants Turkmen forces to fight against IS militants on the ground as a branch of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu had also discussed the matter on the telephone with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, they said.

"At the origin of these attacks in a region in which there are clearly no elements of Daesh (ISIS), nor terrorist elements, first come the Russian air raids and then the support of Foreign fighters", who "are not only from Daesh" but also from other groups like "Hezbollah, coming from Lebanon". "It's not correct to say the Turkmens are being targeted", he added.

Ankara supports rebels opposing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad but Moscow has refused to abandon the Syrian leader and its air campaign is widely seen as buttressing his regime.

GETTY FROSTY The two leaders met earlier this month during the G20 summit

The Turkmens have for decades tried to maintain their language and culture in Syria, resisting Arab assimilation policies of the Damascus government, which in turn has frequently regarded them as a fifth column working in favor of Ankara.

Already, Russia's air strikes in support of Assad's forces have shifted the balance of power in the conflict.

Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador after Moscow's warplanes bombed Syrian territory "very close" to the Turkish border, the foreign ministry said yesterday, adding to tensions as the two sides seek to narrow their differences over the Syria conflict.

The foreign ministry said Turkmen villages were subject to "heavy bombardment" by the Russian planes in the Bayirbucak area of northwest Syria, close to Turkey's Yayladag border gate in Hatay province.

"If any attack is mounted against civilians on Turkey's borderline, even with cluster munition shelling, so as to draw the people living there towards Turkey and lead to a further refugee flow, all involved will be held responsible", Davutoglu told the media in Istanbul on Friday.