ANKARA
Turkish energy minister has denied opposition claims that Turkey will send troops into Syria within two days.
The response from Taner Yildiz came after Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice-Chairman Gursel Tekin made the allegations in comments published Thursday in Turkish newspaper Taraf.
Tekin told the daily: "Turkey will send troops to Syria either tomorrow evening or the following day," adding the information had come from a "very reliable source."
But Yildiz rejected Tekin's claim and called him to reveal his sources.
"Reveal your sources. We suggest he reconsiders his sources," Yildiz said in Ankara during a press conference.
Tekin also said he hoped the allegations were not true.
He said: "I am openly calling on Mr. Prime Minister [Ahmet Davutoglu] and Mr. Foreign Minister [Mevlut Cavusoglu] ... please rule out what I am saying as a false claim.
"We want to hear from you that no such plan exists and cannot happen."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said May 2 that Turkey would start a "train-and-equip" program for Syrian fighters May 9, along with U.S. involvement, to enable them to fight Daesh and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Clashes between Iraqi forces, Syrian opposition factions and Daesh have been ongoing since June 2014, when the militant armed group seized Mosul and other territories in Iraq, as well as in Syria.
The move prompted the U.S. to form an international coalition which has launched numerous airstrikes against Daesh targets in both Iraq and Syria since August.
Turkey and the U.S. inked a deal on Feb. 19 to train-and-equip Syrian opposition forces which aims to achieve a political transformation in the war-torn country on the basis of the Geneva Communique.
Cavusoglu said that about 2,000 Syrian fighters would take part in the program in Turkey, starting in early March.
