Turkey suggests training Syrian opposition on its territory to defeat IS

Turkey has suggested training and equipping Syrian opposition forces together with its partner states on Turkish soil to help them fight the Islamic State (IS), Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir said Thursday, according to RIA Novosti.

According to the minister, Ankara suggests "using special forces that are already in Syria."

"We can separate opposition forces from al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, IS and Hezbollah, and those who are really trained to fight in specific conditions may come to Turkey, we can train and equip them together and send them to solve the problem of the Islamic State once and for all," Bozkir said speaking to the European Parliament.

The minister added that Ankara suggests "creating a buffer zone after we get rid of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, so that it would be possible to send some of the refugees back to their homes."