Turkey may start training the Syrian opposition before March 2015, as part of the efforts to degrade and defeat the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.
"We have reached a clarified framework on the training and equipping of the Syrian opposition, in negotiation with the US," Cavusoglu said, according to a Xinhua report.
Turkey and the US have been in talks for the training of moderate Syrian rebels in the Hirfanli military base in central Anatolia, Turkey.
Turkey had declined to be a full-fledged part of the anti-IS coalition unless the US agreed to adopt an "integrated strategy" that aimed also at the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.
However, Washington has said that the priority is not Assad's removal, but combating the IS threat.