Turkish PM Criticizes UN Security Council
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Turkey’s prime minister criticized the UN Security Council on Sunday for the council’s failure to agree on decisive steps to end the civil war in Syria, the Associated Press reported.
Nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey since the infighting in Syrian began. (Creative Commons/Flickr)
"If we wait for one or two of the permanent members ... then the future of Syria will be in danger," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan who added that a human tragedy was playing out in Syria.
There is little chance of U.N. support for robust action in Syria however, Reuters reported.
Reuters:
“China insists any solution to Syria's crisis must come from within while Russia has said many Syrians still support Assad. Western nations meanwhile are loath to commit to any military action that could touch off a regional sectarian war.”
Turkey became increasingly entangled in the Syrian conflict after it intercepted a Syria-bound plane earlier this week, BBC reported. Turkey's decision to ground the plane was based on reports which said the plane carried Russian-made defense equipment which would be used by the Syrian military against rebels.
In addition, earlier that week, Turkey fired back against Syria after five Turkish civilians were killed in a Syrian mortar strike against a Turkish village.
In the five day mortar exchange following the incident, the Washington Post reported that the “mortar exchanges....[between Syria and Turkey] raised fears that a full-blown war could be imminent.”
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey is prepared to use force if it is attacked again, the A.P. reported.
"If a similar incident occurs again from the Syrian side, we will again take counter action," Davutoglu said in an address to reporters. Davutoglu also stressed in his report that the border between Syria and Turkey is the frontier of NATO.
NATO, which met in emergency session at Turkey’s request and issued a strongly worded statement calling the Syrian shelling “a flagrant breach of international law and a clear and present danger to the security of one of its Allies” pledged to continue to “stand by Turkey,” however it proposed no immediate action, the Washington Post reported.
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