Turkey said a new Arab League ultimatum for Syria, which expires Friday, was the “last chance” for the regime in Damascus but ruled out military intervention to end the bloody repression of protests.
“It is a last chance, a new chance for Syria,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul shortly before the 11am GMT deadline for Syria to accept observers under an Arab League peace plan.
“We think it is now vital to put an end to the suffering of the Syrian people … and the bloodshed,” Davutoglu said at a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Jordan’s King Abdullah II have both called on President Bashar al-Assad to quit over the crackdown on protesters which the UN says has left more than 3 500 people dead.
The new Arab ultimatum was issued on Thursday at meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo where the 22-member bloc also for the first time called on the UN to help resolve the crisis.
Further measures
“I hope that Syria will sign this accord,” Judeh said, referring to the Arab peace plan, adding that it represented “the collective will of the Arab world”.
Davutoglu warned that Syria would be isolated by Turkey, Arab states and the entire international community if it rejected the Arab proposals and warned that Ankara could adopt further measures against the regime.
“Today [Friday] is a day for an historic decision … and is a test of the good will of the Syrian administration,” he said after talks with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi. “It is clear we cannot tolerate any bloodshed in Syria.”
Turkey has been increasing strident in its criticism of the regime in neighbouring Syria, once a close ally, and has already halted joint oil exploration and threatened to cut electrity supplies.
But despite the strong rhetoric, Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc said Ankara ruled out any military intervention in its neighbour.
“We are absolutely opposed to any intervention in Syria and reject any operation that would involve Turkey against this country,” Arinc told journalists Thursday, CNN-Turk television reported.
‘Absolutely false’
“Some countries say that Turkey is going to intervene in the situation in Syria, that is absolutely false,” he said. “There is no question of sending [Turkish] soldiers or of a Turkish intervention in Syria.”
In his blunt call this week for Assad to step down, Erdogan branded him a coward and warned he risked the same fate as dictators who met bloody ends.
Turkey has ratcheted up its criticism of Assad since its diplomatic missions came under attack by pro-government demonstrators in several Syrian cities earlier this month.
Tensions were heightened further on Monday when two busloads of Turkish pilgrims travelling through Syria on their way back from the hajj in Mecca were attacked by Syrian gunmen.
Turkey, which is already sheltering about 7,000 Syrian opposition activists who fled their home, is however mulling plans for a buffer or no-fly zone on its border with Syria.
Among those on Syrian soil is Riyadh al-Asaad, who defected from the Syrian army and is now leading a group of deserters in the rebel Free Syrian Army. — AFP