U.S., Turkey talk on cooperation to fight against IS

The United States and Turkey had "productive" talks on the cooperation to fight against the Islamic State (IS) militants in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara stated on Saturday.

Special Presidential Envoy of the United States General John Allen and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Ambassador Brett McGurk had talks with Under Secretary of Turkish Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu about cooperation on fighting against IS militants, the embassy said in a written statement.

They discussed a number of ways in which the U.S. and Turkey can broaden and deepen cooperation on counter-IS efforts, including on countering the flow of foreign fighters, said the statement.

General Allen thanked Turkey for "supporting the train and equip effort which will build the capability of the vetted Syrian opposition to defend the Syrian people from attacks by IS; secure territory controlled by the moderate Syrian opposition; protect the U.S., our coalition partners and allies, and the Syrian people from threats posed by terrorists in Syria; and promote the conditions for a negotiated settlement to end the conflict in Syria," said the statement.

As part of anti-IS coalition, Turkey and the U.S. have close bilateral cooperation, particularly in focusing a program for training and equipping Syrian rebels in Hirfanli military base of Turkey's central Anatolian Kirsehir province.

On February, Ankara and Washington signed an agreement to provide training and equipment for Syrian opposition forces, aiming to train a total of 15,000 Syrian opposition fighters during a three-year period, 5,000 of whom will be trained in Turkey.

However, the program has been delayed several times, as, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, it takes longer time to transfer U.S. soldiers to Turkey.

"It's all about technical reasons," Cavusoglu said on Monday, responding to claims that Ankara and Washington disagree with each other over the purpose of boosting the combat readiness of the Syrian rebels.

Ankara wants the trained fighters to battle both the IS militants and the Syrian government forces, while the White House says the program would only be used to counter the IS forces.

The Turkish government has long been backing military movement to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, while Damascus slams Ankara for supporting terrorism in the war-torn country. Endit