LONDON
Turkey and the U.S. plan to start a training-and-equip program for Iraqi Peshmerga forces in March, Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said Thursday.
Addressing the press during a counter-terrorism meeting in London, Bilgic said the conference aimed to follow America's five public lines of efforts against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, including taking the military fight to the terrorist group, disrupting terrorist financing sources, preventing recruitment of foreign fighters, enhancing communication and humanitarian strategies.
"Turkey and the U.S. are still debating about training and equipping Peshmerga forces against ISIL and are planning to start the program in March," the spokesperson said.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu participated in the meeting on behalf of Turkey.
In November, Turkey allowed Iraqi Peshmerga forces to cross into Syrian town of Kobani through its borders to boost Kurdish forces already present there battling the ISIL terrorists.
The spokesperson also said that around 20 countries joined the meeting, including Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of UN Assistance Mission in Iraq Nickolay Mladenov and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
"We asked for more intelligence sharing and coordination from the international community in the meetings," Bilgic added.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, later declaring the territories under its control an Islamic caliphate.
