Erdogan: Turkey has Lost Faith in Ally Syria
Turkey has abandoned hope that Syria will respond to international demands to halt violence and initiate democratic reforms, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.
"We no longer expect the Assad government to show honest, persuasive, brave and determined leadership," Erdogan told his party's lawmakers. "No one expects him to respond to the demands of the international community anymore."
Erdogan, once a close political ally and a personal friend of Syrian leader Bashar aAssad, has for months expressed frustration at Assad's failure to listen to his people.
"The Syrian government is on a very dangerous and narrow path, like the edge of a knife," he told the weekly meeting. "It is our common desire for him to turn back from this path, which has a cliff at the end."
Erdogan slammed Assad over weekend attacks on Turkey's diplomatic missions in three Syrian cities.
"It is the honor of every country to protect foreign citizens and diplomats. Syria should understand that trying to send a message through those attacks shows weakness and ignorance," he said.
Thousands of pro-regime protestors armed with knives and batons attacked Turkish diplomatic missions in the Syrian capital Damascus as well as Aleppo and Latakia on Saturday over Turkey's support for an Arab League decision to suspend Syria.
Around 5,000 demonstrators smashed the windows of Turkey's honorary consulate building in Latakia and burned a Turkish flag.
Turkey hailed the Arab League decision as "timely and one of common sense."
On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with representatives of the Syrian opposition movement, the Syrian National Council, which was founded in Turkey in August.
The council, the country's largest and most representative opposition grouping, sought permission to set up an office in Turkey. A Turkish diplomat who declined to be named said Ankara was considering the request.
over 12 years
The problem with all these accusers finger pointers is that they themselves are killers and oppressors of their own people, from Saudi Arabia to bahrain to turkey and so on, the word hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe these people, but its been like this since forever in history, however this isn't what really ticks me, its the fact that there are so many delusional people commenting here and others in the media and the world who are keen and seem to support this as if its somehow all going to be for the better for arabs and as soon as this "dictator" is out all will be hunky dory and happy life, what a dream world! and don't compare this to ghadafi and lybia please any half witted person knows that if lybia hadn't had oil none of it would've happened and plus its only because it has oil and a small population that they "might" be able now to share the wealth and enjoy a better life but thats cause they are lucky sitting on a goldmine just taken from its guardian all these years
over 12 years
If Syria falls, it will be lebanon which takes the biggest hits. Those who formally hated syria will find a new Islamist government much worse. The instability will hit lebanon quickly and we will be rocked by terrorist attacks as the Sunni Movements in Lebanon start recieving heavy weapons from Saudi Arabia through Syria.
Hopefully syria will not fall, but those who hated syria so much will realise how much worse things can get
tick tock Bashar