Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Syrian Kurdish militia forces must remain outside the scope of a ceasefire agreed between Syria's warring parties, just like Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front.

"If Daesh (IS) and Al-Nusra are kept outside the ceasefire, then the PYD-YPG must similarly be excluded from the ceasefire for it is a terrorist group just as they are," Erdogan told local officials in Ankara, referring to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.