ANKARA: Turkey no longer has confidence in the Syrian regime, its prime minister said Tuesday, warning Syrian President Bashar Assad that his brutal crackdown on opponents threatens to place him on a list of leaders who “feed on blood.”
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also urged Assad to punish those responsible for attacks on Turkish diplomatic missions in Syria.
Addressing Assad disrespectfully by his first name, Erdogan said: “Bashar, you who have thousands of people in jail, must find the culprits and punish them.”
Assad’s supporters tried to break into Turkish missions on Saturday to denounce an Arab League decision to suspend Syria’s membership over its crackdown on the eight-month uprising. Turkey is not a member of the league, but welcomed the decision.
Erdogan took pains to note that his comments were politically neutral. Turkey evacuated the families of diplomats after Saturday’s attacks on its embassy in Damascus and its consulates in the cities of Aleppo and Latakia. “I again strongly condemn the attack on the Turkish flag and our missions,” Erdogan said.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul warned Syria that it must protect Turkish missions. “If they don’t take necessary measures, no doubt our reaction will be different if it is repeated,” Gul said.
Turkey said Tuesday it had halted joint oil exploration with Syria and threatened to cut energy supplies to its neighbor. “We are currently exporting electricity (to Syria). If the situation continues like this, we may be in a position to revise all these decisions,” Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said. Yildiz also said that Turkey’s Petroleum Corporation has stopped exploration with the Syrian national oil company in six wells, according to Anatolia.
Meanwhile, dozens of soldiers and security forces were gunned down by suspected army defectors in southern Syria, activists said Tuesday.
Monday’s hours-long clash in the southern province of Daraa came on a particularly bloody day in Syria, with as many as 90 people killed across the country. Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the observatory, confirmed that 34 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Daraa.
In another development, the European Union added Tuesday the commander of Syria’s special forces, a militia chief and a slew of generals to a new list of Syrians hit by sanctions over a crackdown on protesters.
The military men and a lawyer are among 18 extra people blacklisted by the 27-state EU, bringing to 74 the members of Assad’s regime hit in past months by assets freezes and travel bans.
More than 100 demonstrators stormed the Jordanian Embassy in Damascus and tore down the flag in protest at King Abdallah’s call for Assad to go, Jordanian newspapers said Tuesday.
It was the fourth such protest against embassies of regional powers by angry Assad loyalists since the Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syria and impose sanctions against the regime.
“Nearly 120 people protested in front of the Jordanian Embassy in Damascus on Monday evening and two of them managed to break into the outside courtyard of the embassy and tear down the Jordanian flag,” Ambassador Omar Al-Amad told Al-Dustur and Al-Ghad newspapers.
“Syrian security forces did not intervene to prevent the incursion into the embassy compound by these two individuals,” the ambassador added. “By international agreement, the responsibility to protect embassies and other diplomatic missions falls on the host country.”
