Turkey ready for `any scenario` in Syria-minister
Turkey said on Tuesday it did not want military intervention in Syria but was ready for any scenario to deal with President Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on popular unrest, including setting up a buffer zone to contain any mass influx of refugees, Reuters reported.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said Turkish sanctions against Syria were ready and would be announced after he meets with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
A former friend of Syria, Turkey is now a vocal critic of Assad and his military action against protesters calling for his overthrow. In his most direct message to the isolated Syrian leader, Erdogan called on Assad last week to step down.
"If the oppression continues, Turkey is ready for any scenario. We hope that a military intervention will never be necessary. The Syrian regime has to find a way of making peace with its own people," Davutoglu said in an interview with television broadcaster Kanal 24.
"If tens, hundreds of thousands of people start advancing towards the Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey borders, not only Turkey but the international community may be required to take some steps such as a buffer zone. We don't want that to happen but we must consider and work on that scenario."
However, Davutoglu played down his comments at a news conference later on Tuesday, saying a buffer zone was not on "today's agenda".
The Turkish army set up a security buffer zone inside northern Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991 and has maintained small detachments there ever since.
Turkey's border with Syria is around 900 km long, of which more than 500 km is mined on the Turkish side to a depth of up to 300 metres, the legacy of an era when Syria and Turkey almost went to war over a Syrian policy of housing Kurdish militants.
Syria sanctions "ready"
On Sunday, the Arab League imposed sanctions on Damascus over the
crackdown, in which more than 3,500 people have been killed in
eight months, according to the United Nations. The European Union
weighed in one day later.
Ankara has said it will follow the Arab League in imposing sanctions on Syria and on Tuesday Davutoglu said those sanctions were now ready and would be announced soon.
"Yesterday and today, we worked on the sanctions and discussed our work with the related ministers. Our work is complete and the sanctions are ready, we will announce them after we meet with the prime minister and the president," Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara.
He did not specify a time frame but repeated Ankara's longstanding stance of only applying measures selectively to avoid harming the Syrian people.
"The sanctions will not affect Syrian people's daily lives," Davutoglu said, adding Turkey would not cut off water supplies to its southern neighbour.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, who earlier this month floated the idea of cutting off electricity supplies to Damascus, said on Tuesday the flow would not be restricted as this was a basic need.
Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey would conduct trade with the Middle East via Iraq if the violence worsened in Syria, echoing comments by the economy minister earlier this month that Turkey was looking at new routes to bypass Syria.
"We will carry out transit transportation through Iraq via opening new border gates if conditions in Syria worsen," he said. "Transportation through Iraq and Jordan to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Gulf countries will be supported more and the work on this route will gain pace."
Turkey is Syria's biggest trading partner with bilateral trade worth $2.5 billion last year. However, Turkish exports to Syria dropped by 10 percent in October and the first two weeks of November because of the rising insecurity, the economy minister has said.
Yildirim said civil aviation flights will not be halted and Turkish Airlines services to Damascus will continue, but that Turkey would continue enforcing an arms embargo.
The Turkish newspaper Sabah, without identifying sources, said Syrian government accounts at the Turkish central bank will be suspended, official sales to the Syrian state will be halted and a travel ban will be imposed on Assad and his family.
The paper said the Arab League measures were discussed at a meeting of Turkish ministers on Sunday and will be imposed after approval from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.