Turkish PM says Syrian rebel win ‘closer than ever’

ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Syrian opposition was close to victory, and warned that Ankara was ready to respond to any “hostile” action by the Damascus regime.
“We think that the Syrian people are closer than ever to victory,” Erdogan said at a dinner on Monday, according to the Anatolia news agency.
“This bloody regime in Syria is bound to leave sooner or later. What’s more, the ruthless killings committed in panic in recent days show the world that the Syrian regime is on the road to oblivion.”
As the Syrian regime threatened Monday to use its chemical arsenal if attacked by outsiders, Erdogan warned that Turkey was ready to respond in kind if provoked by Damascaus.
“If the Syrian regime hasn’t learned its lesson and will continue with its hostile tactics, Turkey will not hesitate to respond in kind,” he said.
He said Turkey had taken “all the necessary measures within the framework of international law” after Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet over the eastern Mediterranean in June.
Syrian rebels on Tuesday accused President Bashar Assad’s regime of moving its chemical arsenal to the country’s borders in a bid to pressure the international community.
At least 19,000 people have been killed since the revolt broke out in March last year, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Erdogan also criticized Damascus for abusing a peace plan drawn up by UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan and urged the international community to do more to end the confict.
“The Annan plan that the international community, Turkey included, supported in good faith, has become in its present form a means of exploitation by the Assad regime,” he said.
“The international community needs to take up more responsibility given the current events.”