Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç has said Turkey and the United States are still negotiating the training of 2,000 moderate Syrian rebels at a base in the central Turkish city of Kırşehir, adding that no official agreement has been reached on the issue yet. While the US focuses on fighting against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkey insists that the trained forces should fight the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well. “Turkey and the US are about to reach an agreement, but it is hard to declare a deal at this point,” said Bilgiç. He underlined that Turkey will be responsible for training the Free Syrian Army (FSA), while the US will deal with equipment for the group. Turkey has pushed for the removal from power of the Bashar al-Assad regime, while the US says Assad is not a priority and that coalition forces need to tackle the immediate threat of ISIL. Turkey also supports the establishment of an internationally accepted no-fly zone as well as a safe zone inside Syria to curb the refugee influx. The idea has failed to receive support from the US.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
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