Turkey Live Blog

2 hours 22 min ago - Syria

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Turkish President, Abdullah Gul insists that change in Damascus is inevitable. Gul, who had been in contact with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad until recently, said it is too late to expect a democratic handover in Syria and that Istanbul has little trust in the words of the Damascus government.

We don't believe the right way to create change is through external intervention. The people must make that change. Civil war is not something that anyone would want to see happen. Everything must be done to prevent it. It is very dangerous.

Tags Abdullah Gul, Bashar al Assad, Guardian, quotes, Turkey
23 hours 27 min ago - Turkey

AFP - A bus carrying Turkish pilgrims came under attack in neighbouring Syria as they were travelling back from the hajj in
Saudi Arabia, leaving two injured, media reports said on Monday.

The private CNN-Turk television station, citing unconfirmed claims, said the attack was carried out by Syrian soldiers when the bus took a wrong turn near the flashpoint city of Homs.

"We confirm that an attack took place in Syria," a foreign ministry official told AFP, without giving any further information.

Tags attack, Bashar al Assad, bus, syria
2 days 12 hours ago - Syria

Turkish newspapers said on Saturday Ankara had contingency plans to create no-fly or buffer zones to protect civilians in neighbouring Syria from security forces there if the bloodshed worsens.

Turkey opposes unilateral steps or intervention aimed at "regime change" in Syria, the reports said, but it has not ruled out the possibility of more extensive military action if security forces began committing large-scale massacres.

The reports, based on a briefing by Turkish officials to selected journalists, came on the day of an Arab League deadline for President Bashar al-Assad's government to end its repression of anti-government unrest and comply with a peace plan.

The columnist Sedat Ergin wrote in Hurriyet newspaper:

It's almost certain that Bashar al-Assad's regime is going down, all the assessments are made based on this assumption.

Foreign Ministry sources say that the sooner the regime goes down, the better for Turkey.

It is out of the question that Turkey carries out a military intervention to change the regime. However, it takes a flexible stance on opposition groups running activities in Turkey.

Tags Bashar al Assad, no fly zone, Turkey
3 days 23 hours ago - Syria
Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said that tougher sanctions were needed on Syria and that France was ready to work together with the Syrian opposition. 

Juppe was speaking at a news conference alongside Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, in Ankara, Turkey's capital. 

Davutoglu said pressure on Syria needed to be escalated to stop the bloodshed. 

France, Britain and Germany plan to ask the UN General Assembly's human rights committee to approve a resolution condemning the violence in Syria, before putting the non-binding measure to a vote in an Assembly plenary session.
Tags ahmet davutoglu, Alain Juppe, Bashar al Assad, France, Turkey
5 days 18 hours ago - Syria

As we await the result of an Arab League foreign ministers meeting in the Moroccan capital Rabat, the tone of the discussion there has begun leaking out. According to the AFP news agency, a statement issued after a separate Turkish-Arab cooperation forum, also held in Rabat, has called for "urgent measures" to protect Syrian civilians, though the statement also said all aisde were against foreign intervention. 

Tags Arab League, Qatar, Turkey
6 days 15 hours ago - Turkey

Turkey has threatened to cut electricity supplies to Syria.  

"Right now, as of Tuesday, we are supplying electricirty there [to Syria], but if this course continues, we may have to review all of these decisions," Taner Yildiz, Turkey's energy minister, said.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reporting from the capital of Lebanon said she spoke to an opposition activist who told her it is the Syrian people who will be effected the most if Turkey cut electricity to Syria "so he didn't get what type of logic was behind it". 

Tags Assad, electricity, syria
6 days 19 hours ago - Syria
The dpa news agency has reported that Arab and western diplomatic corps in Damascus have received threats of violence if their governments continue to pile pressure on Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, over his regime's crackdown on pro-democracy protests, a western diplomat said Tuesday.

The diplomat, who spoke to dpa on condition of anonymity, said that Arab and western embassies have in recent weeks been warned "that they will be the target of bombings or more attacks if their countries do not change their stance" on events in Syria.

The threats, largely made through anonymous calls to embassy staff, have led several countries to evacuate their diplomats.

During the weekend pro-government demonstrators attacked the embassies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as the Turkish and French consulates in the city of Latakia. On Tuesday, three demonstrators scaled the the Jordanian embassy fence and took down the country's flag/ 

Tags Assad, Embassies, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey
6 days 19 hours ago - Turkey

On Tuesday, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, said he no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime, warning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that his brutal crackdown threatens to place him on a list of leaders who "feed on blood".

Erdogan also urged Assad to punish those responsible for attacks over the weekend on Turkish diplomatic missions in Syria.

Addressing Assad by his first name, Erdogan said: "Bashar, you who have thousands of people in jail, must find the culprits and punish them."

Tags Assad, Erdogan, syria
1 week 52 min ago - Syria

Hundreds of Syrians have staged a pro-Turkey protest in the northern city of Aleppo after attacks on Turkish diplomatic targets in the country, the NTV news channel reported Tuesday.

The protesters, waving Turkish flags, chanted "Thank you, Turkish government" and "Thank you, Arab leaders" in the demonstration late Monday, NTV said.

Thousands of pro-regime protestors armed with knives and batons had attacked Turkish diplomatic missions in the capital Damascus as well as Aleppo and Latakia on Saturday over Turkey's support for an Arab League decision to suspend Syria.

In Aleppo, protesters managed to break into the consulate building, while in Damascus they pelted the embassy building with stones, plastic bottles and tear gas shells, which the police had used to disperse the crowd.

The assaults caused material damage and no one was injured, but Turkey evacuated the dependents of diplomats from Syria over increasing security concerns.

Tags Aleppo, damascus, Turkey
1 week 1 day ago - Syria

Turkey's state-run news agency says a Syrian opposition group that is trying to form a united front against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seeking permission to open a representation in Turkey.

The Anatolia agency said Monday that members of the Syrian National Council relayed their request to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday as relations with Syria strained over a spate of attacks on Turkish diplomatic missions in Damascus and other cities.

Saturday's attacks followed an Arab League decision to suspend Syria's membership in response to its crackdown on the eight-month uprising. Turkey is not a member of the league, but welcomed the decision.

Turkey has evacuated some families of diplomats and issued a warning against traveling to Syria.  [AP]

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