Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Russia on Wednesday of "ethnic cleansing" in Syria as well as strengthening Islamic State jihadists, in a new escalation of tensions between Ankara and Moscow after the downing of a Russian warplane. "Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in the northern Latakia (region) to force (out) all Turkmen and Sunni populations who do not have good relations with the (Syrian) regime," Davutoglu told foreign reporters from his Istanbul offices. He said Russia wanted to purge the northwestern Syrian region of unwanted elements to ensure the security of its air and naval bases in Syria. "They want to expel, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that regime and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected," he said. "They don't want to see any Sunni Arab or Turkmen population in that part of Syria. That is the purpose." The region is a stronghold of Alawite Muslims loyal to the Kremlin's ally President Bashar al-Assad who Ankara wants to see ousted. 'ISIS benefitting' Davutoglu also said that Russia's military strikes in Syria, which began in late September, were "strengthening" ISIS jihadists by targeting moderate forces opposing Assad, especially around Azaz in northern Syria. "Unfortunately the Russian operations are not helping to clean this region from Daesh," he said, using the government's preferred acronym for ISIS. He said Russia was bombing Azaz "which is a stronghold of moderate opposition against Daesh," and strengthening ISIS as a result. "Who is benefitting from this? Daesh. Not even the regime. Daesh." Davutoglu contended that just 10 percent of Russia's strikes in Syria targeted ISIS whereas 90 percent targeted "moderate forces" opposed both to Assad and the jihadists. He said the Russian actions were affecting plans for joint operations with the US and moderate Syrian rebels to secure the border from jihadists. "Of course this this is a new situation. We have to assess it with allies about what to do next and when." AFP contributed to this report.