Turkey delays buffer zone plan in Syria: SNC president

ISTANBUL, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Syrian opposition leader Abdulbaset Sieda said Friday that Turkey would delay the plan of setting up a buffer zone in Syria.

Sieda, President of Syrian National Council, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua that Turkey would not take urgent action to establish a buffer zone even though it faces a serious refugee issue.

Turkey is planing to open new refugee camps to accommodate more people fleeing from Syria. "Turkey prepares for taking 120,000 Syrian refugees now," Sieda said.

In late August, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country could not handle more than 100,000 Syrian refugees and pushed the international community to establish a buffer zone inside Syria to shelter refugees.

However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week Turkey would not take any step to create a buffer zone inside Syria without a UN resolution.

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is over 80,000 and Turkey has requested the international community to share its burden in the face of a possible new influx of refugees.

Turkey is now part of an international coalition formed to impose a partial no-fly zone over Syria. That model was applied in 1991 to protect Kurds from the Iraqi former President Saddam Hussein's attacks. Enditem

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