Turkey holds 10 suspected of sending fighters to Syria, arming them

Turkey detained 10 people on Tuesday on suspicion of providing weapons and fighters in the name of al Qaeda to opposition fighters trying to topple the Syrian government, highlighting the dilemma Turkey faces as one of the opposition movement's biggest backers Today's Zaman reported.

Turkey, which is now hosting some nearly 200,000 Syrians who have fled the war, is one of President Bashar al-Assad's most outspoken critics and has given the opposition fighters shelter and logistical support, although it denies arming them.

A camp dedicated to soldiers who have defected from the Syrian government army sits along Turkey's southern border with Syria and opposition fighters are able to cross freely back and forth across the frontier.

Yet at the same time, it has no desire to let the radical groups who have joined the opposition cause, notably the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, operate on its territory or recruit Turkish citizens.

The suspects were arrested in Konya province, some 250 km (150 miles) south of the capital Ankara, after police were tipped off that a "radical Islamist group" was persuading young men to join the Syrian insurgents, Turkish media reported.

According to the report, the men were also suspected of supplying handguns and rifles to the opposition fighters, who have been fighting to overthrow Assad in a civil war that started as a peaceful street uprising two years ago.