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Turkey’s concerns rise over killings as Arab observers head to Syria
In a written statement released on the website of the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, expressed its deep uneasiness and concerns over the mass killing of protesters in Syria, which has seen nine months of political unrest. The UN says more than 5,000 people have died since March as Syria has sought to put down the uprising -- part of the Arab Spring of protests that has toppled long-serving unpopular leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. On Wednesday, the Obama administration accused the Syrian government of continuing to "mow down" its people and the French Foreign Ministry said everything must be done to stop this "murderous spiral."
Turkey on Thursday said in the statement that the violence was in stark contrast to the spirit of the Arab League deal Syria signed on to and is raising doubts about Syria’s “true intentions.”
“We strongly condemn the Syrian leadership’s policies of oppression against its own people, which are turning the country into a bloodbath,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said. “The protocol aims to take protection of civilians under guarantee, and within this framework it aims to end violence in the country in the first place, to prevent security forces and militia from intervening in pacifist demonstrations, and to ensure the withdrawal of those forces from provinces and other settlements,” the ministry said.
It said no administration “can come out a winner from a struggle against its own people.”
Syria signed an Arab League initiative on Monday that will allow Arab observers into the country, bowing to growing international pressure to end its bloody crackdown on a nine-month uprising. The regime’s acceptance of observers after weeks of delays came after a warning from Arab leaders that they would turn to the UN Security Council for action to try to end President Assad’s crackdown that the UN says has killed at least 5,000 people.
Despite the latest violence, the Arab League appeared to be going ahead with plans to send in its first delegation of monitors on Thursday.
The advance team, led by the league’s assistant secretary-general, Sameer Seif el-Yazal, was to arrive in Syria later on Thursday. The team is to arrange logistics for an upcoming mission of around 20 experts in military affairs and human rights, which will head for Syria on Sunday, led by Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa of Sudan.
Another team of 100 observers will leave for Syria within two weeks, according to the plan.
Activists said the Syrian government appeared to be furiously trying to control the situation on the ground before monitors from the Arab League arrive under a plan to resolve the country’s crisis.
“They are trying to buy time, one hour after another, hoping to gain the upper hand on the ground,” said an activist in the northern village of Kfar Owaid near the Turkish border, where more than 100 people were killed on Tuesday.
Activists urge for an immediate international act to stop the mass murder by the regime.
The Syrian army launched a massive military strike in Homs to suppress defectors, but activists say most of the victims were civilians.
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