The two countries on Monday vetoed a European-backed resolution that threatened sanctions against Syria if it did not immediately halt its military crackdown on civilians. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a speech delivered in South Africa on Tuesday that the veto would not stop Turkey and many other countries, including those in the European Union, from imposing sanctions. His statement was reported by the state-run Anatolia news agency.
Speaking in South Africa, Erdoğan lamented the failure of the resolution, but said it would not deter Turkey from launching its own sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad´s government. “Naturally the veto … cannot prevent sanctions,” Erdoğan said. “We will of necessity implement a package of sanctions.”
Erdoğan has said he will announce the package after he visits a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey in the next few days. The move heralds a further deterioration in previously friendly relations between Ankara and Damascus since the start of Assad´s deadly crackdown on protesters in March. At least 2,700 civilians have been killed in Syria, according to a UN count. Damascus blames the unrest on foreign-backed armed gangs, who it says have killed 700 security personnel.
“The [Syrian] leadership is losing the respect of its people,” Erdoğan said at a diplomatic meeting in Pretoria. “We see the leadership in Syria is not taking the necessary steps despite promises of reform.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu also spoke on Turkey’s stance with regards to Syria on Wednesday after talks with the Turkish opposition, and said, “Turkey can never remain indifferent to the developments in Syria regardless of international developments.”
“I wish the Syrian administration had chosen to carry out the reforms at the very beginning. The Syrian leadership chose more violence instead of following our advice,” he added.
Dismayed by Assad’s failure to heed repeated entreaties to stop the violence, Turkey has begun piling pressure on Syria. On Tuesday, a Syrian colonel who has emerged as one of the leaders of armed resistance to the 45-year-old president’s rule revealed that he had been given sanctuary in Turkey. The Turkish military was due to begin a nine-day exercise in the southern province of Hatay, bordering Syria, on Wednesday.
Syria’s political opposition groups have met in İstanbul several times in the past few months. On Sunday the newly formed Syrian National Council said the world was obliged to protect the Syrian people, though it rejected any foreign intervention that endangered Syria’s sovereignty.
The Turkish prime minister is set to pay a visit to Syrian refugees in the southern province of Hatay who fled violence in Syria as a result of the brutal crackdown by forces loyal to Syrian President Assad on protesters this Sunday.
Erdoğan also said relations with Israel still remain frigid. Turkey’s ties with Israel began to unravel in late 2008, after Erdoğan voiced outrage at an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip. Turkey reacted angrily last month to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to apologize for an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turks in May 2010. Erdoğan said relations cannot improve until an apology is issued and compensation paid. “The international community must tell Israel they are not above the law,” he declared.
