TURKEY: Turkey's military struck targets inside Syria in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office says.

Record ID: 281427

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkey's military struck targets inside Syria in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office says.
  • Date: 4th October 2012
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 3, 2012) (REUTERS) TURKISH STATE MINISTER, BESIR ATALAY, ARRIVING AT TURKISH PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE BY CAR
  • Embargoed: 19th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA651U9Y567U1MIZ6X40AR3QEUS
  • Story Text: Turkey's military struck targets inside Syria on Wednesday (October 3) in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory which killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said in a statement.
    "Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar," the statement said.
    The statement also said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen agreed to convene urgent meeting of NATO members over a phone call.
    A mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in a residential district of the southeastern Turkish town of Akcakale on Wednesday, killing a woman and four children from the same family and wounding at least eight other people.
    Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc stressed that Syria must be made to account for a mortar bomb that killed five people and a response should be given within international law.
    "There has been an attack towards Turkey's mainland and its citizens lost their lives. There is definitely a response to it in international law. Turkey is a NATO member. Certain NATO treaty articles bring about certain responsibilities when one of its members is attacked. We are not blinded by rage but we will protect our rights to the end in the face of such an attack on our soil that killed our people," Arinc said.
    A cloud of dust and smoke rose up over low-rise buildings as residents ran to help the wounded. Others, infuriated by the increasing spillover of violence from Syria's civil war, took to the streets shouting protests against the local authorities.
    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu phoned U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to brief him about the incident and also spoke with senior military officials and Syria crisis mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, along with NATO Secretary General, his ministry said in a statement.
    Davutoglu signalled over the weekend that Turkey would take action if there was a repeat of a mortar strike which damaged homes and workplaces in Akcakale last Friday.
    Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan long cultivated good relations with Assad but became a harsh critic after Syria's popular revolt began last year, accusing him of creating a "terrorist state". Erdogan has allowed Syrian rebels to organise on Turkish soil and pushed for a foreign-protected safe zone inside Syria.
    Syria's worsening bloodshed has increasingly affected border zones, with stray bullets flying into Turkish territory.
    In April, Turkey reported an incident to the United Nations in which at least five people, including two Turkish officials, were wounded when cross-border gunfire struck a Syrian refugee camp in Kilis, further west along the frontier.
    Turkey beefed up its troop presence and air defences along its 900-km (560-mile) border after Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet in June. But residents in Akcakale said there was still not enough security.
    Turkey is sheltering more than 90,000 refugees from Syria and fears a mass influx similar to the flight of half a million Iraqi Kurds into Turkey after the 1991 Gulf War.
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