FM: Turkey May Start To Train, Equip Syrian Opposition By March

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Friday that Turkey could begin training and equipping moderate Syrian opposition fighters before March, according to Reuters.

Çavuşoğlu's statement comes after the US State Department said in October that Turkey had agreed to support the program, a core part of President Barack Obama's strategy in Syria to field local forces to hold and eventually roll back the threat of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents.

Çavuşoğlu, in a press conference earlier in the day, also said the "freeze in the fighting" plan set forward by the UN mediator in the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, was “well-intentioned” but that there were deficiencies in the implementation of the proposal and that they needed to be addressed if the plan is to be successful.

The foreign minister made the statement in response to a question directed at him regarding de Mistura's proposal to freeze fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo to allow for humanitarian aid to enter the city. The statement came after meeting with Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, who was in Ankara on a formal mission.

“We support any cease-fire that will help end the conflict, suffering, bloodshed and the killing of people,” Çavuşoğlu said.

European Union foreign ministers threw their weight behind the plan on Monday, saying it offered a glimmer of hope for a political solution to the three-and-a-half-year civil war. "The EU is committed to fully support … de Mistura's efforts to achieve a strategic de-escalation of violence as a basis for a broader sustainable political process," EU foreign ministers said in a joint statement after discussing the plan in Brussels.

Çavuşoğlu said he was able to discuss bilateral relations -- including economic relations -- as well as regional developments with Pusic, noting that Croatia is one of Turkey's strongest supporters in Turkey's EU accession process.

Croatia, which started its negotiation process on the same date as Turkey, became a member of the now 28-member bloc in June 2013.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)