“I hope our Turkish colleagues will bring every possible pressure to bear on the Assad regime with a very clear message that they are losing legitimacy and that Assad should reform or step aside,” Hague said Monday as he arrived in Luxembourg for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.

Assad is expected to make a speech Monday, and the EU officials will be watching closely. The foreign ministers are expected to discuss expanding sanctions on Syria, where the government is cracking down brutally on dissent.