Turkey urges training so-called moderate militants in Syria

Turkey has called for the swift implementation of its proposals concerning the ongoing crisis in Syria, among them training and equipping the so-called moderate militants operating against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We insist on creation of safe zones liberated from terror and implementation of proposals to train and equip moderate opposition," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a Tuesday speech to a group of neighborhood officials in Ankara while his comments were broadcast live on television.

The Turkish president put forward the proposals two months ago as the key to stopping the influx of refugees.

"If we would like to resolve the refugee issue, there are three things we have to do," Erdogan said in early October, "One is to focus on training and equipment. The second one is to declare a safe zone that would be protected from terrorism and the third is a no-fly zone."

In order to continue their support for the militants fighting to topple the Syrian government in the face of the undeniable atrocities committed by terrorists like Daesh Takfiris, the Western governments and their regional allies have classified the militants into "extremists" and "moderates."  

In an interview with the British Sunday Times newspaper published on the website of Syria's official SANA news agency this week, the Syrian president said since the beginning of the conflict in the country, there has been no such thing as moderate militants in the Arab country.

The enemies “always talk about: moderate groups in Syria. This is a farce based on offering the public factoids instead of facts,” he added.
 

Yet 'premature' to hold new Syria talks

In a relevant development on Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was too early to confirm a new round of international negotiations on the conflict in Syria.

The statement was released less than a week after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the fresh talks on the crisis and diplomats said the negotiations were likely to be held in New York on December 18.

The Russian ministry statement, however, read that it is "premature" to announce the negotiations for that date amid a failure by participants in the talks to make a distinction between terrorists and opposition members active in Syria.

"Not having a collective understanding of who in Syria is a terrorist and who is an opposition member, it is impossible to hold talks on the internal Syrian political process or on such an important and urgent matter as the ceasefire," the Russian Foreign Ministry statement read.

Two rounds of international talks on the conflict in Syria, attended by Iran, were held in the Austrian capital city of Vienna on October 30 and November 14.

At the end of the mid-November round of negotiations, the participants seeking to find a solution to the crisis agreed to meet again in “approximately one month” to review progress toward a ceasefire and the start of a political process in Syria.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of over 250,000 people and left over one million injured since March 2011, according to the UN.

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