- Title: TURKEY: PM lambasts Assad
- Date: 11th June 2011
- Summary: JOURNALISTS LISTENING ANKARA, TURKEY (JUNE 10, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATING AGAINST ASSAD IN FRONT OF SYRIAN EMBASSY / POLICE TAKING SECURITY MEASURES PROTESTERS HOLDING UP BANNERS PROTESTERS STRIKING A PHOTO OF ASSAD WITH A SHOE PROTESTERS CHANTING PROTESTERS SETTING A PHOTO OF ASSAD ALIGHT VARIOUS OF PHOTOS OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR ASSAD WRITT
- Embargoed: 26th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey, Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAE8ABHVIP1BR4AXD531WDI30RB
- Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rebuffed Syrian stance on anti-government protests on Thursday (June 9) and reiterated that Turkey would keep its gates open to people from Syria.
"We really cannot close the doors to those people who run away for their lives and flee to Turkey. We have to welcome them but how long it will last? That is another issue," Erdogan said in a TV interview.
But Damascus, he said, was taking the issue "very lightly" and Ankara could not defend Syria's "inhumane" response to the unrest.
"Unfortunately I say very clearly that his brother is behaving inhumanely and he is pursuing brutality at the moment... Mahir. And think, they pose above women whom they have just killed. It gives such an ugly impression. These images are not ones that you can stomach," Erdogan said.
Meanwhile around a hundred protesters gathered in front of Syrian Embassy in Turkish capital of Ankara on Friday (June 10) and protested against the bloody crackdown on protests.
Nearly 3,000 Syrians have fled into southern Turkey fearing a military assault and the Syrian army has begun a military operation near the border in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, Syrian television said on Friday.
The Syrian government has said armed gangs killed more than 120 security personnel in Jisr al-Shughour, a town of 50,000 near the Turkish border, earlier this week. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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