Rising Middle East power Turkey said on Monday it would galvanise a global campaign to halt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s repression of his people, adding that Damascus could no longer be trusted after attacks on diplomatic missions in Syria. “Turkey’s policy on this issue is open and clear. We will stand by the people’s just demands and we will mobilise the necessary regional and international platforms to counter this Syrian pressure,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the Turkish parliament. Davutoglu is due to meet Arab foreign ministers in Rabat on Wednesday, on the sidelines of a Arab-Turkish forum.
Non-Arab Turkey, after long courting Assad, has lost patience with its neighbour’s failure to end an eight-month crackdown and implement promised democratic reforms. Turkey now hosts the main Syrian opposition and has given refuge to defecting Syrian soldiers, and Davutoglu on Monday praised an Arab League decision to suspend Syria. Despite tough talk, Turkey has moved cautiously, compared to its European Union and U.S. allies, which have been swift to approve sanctions against Damascus, as Ankara weighs the domestic and regional challenges involved.
Iraq should look into atrocities against Kurdish people in Turkey. Why don't Syria offer some help.
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