Turkey's new prime minister strongly rejected Western media reports that many of his fellow countrymen are swelling the ranks of the Islamic State group.

Ahmet Davutoglu says there are many more people from other European countries signing up with the extremist group than there are Turks.

He said Tuesday that Turkey is doing all it can to stem the flow of potential Islamic State recruits.

Davutoglu said at a Cyprus press conference he has asked European countries for closer cooperation to stem the flow of foreign fighters into Syria.

But he said Turkey's border with Syria remains open to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting there.

He blamed the Syrian regime's "massacres" and the slow international response to the conflict for giving rise to groups like IS.