TURKEY: President Abdullah Gul urges international action to help the "worst case scenario" in Syria, as another shell lands on Turkish soil

Record ID: 281470

  • Title: TURKEY: President Abdullah Gul urges international action to help the "worst case scenario" in Syria, as another shell lands on Turkish soil
  • Date: 9th October 2012
  • Summary: HACIPASA DISTRICT, HATAY PROVINCE, TURKEY (OCTOBER 8, 2012) (REUTERS) VILLAGERS RUNNING THROUGH COTTON FIELD TO AREA WHERE MORTAR LANDED CRATER WHERE MORTAR EXPLODED LOCAL VILLAGER HOLDING UP SHARDS OF METAL FROM THE EXPLOSION TRACTOR IN THE FIELD CRATER SEEN THROUGH COTTON BUSHES (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) UN-NAMED VILLAGER, SAYING: "Don't gather here as another shell co
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA81AMVCBAJW4XVU6SZB7O8H3K1
  • Story Text: The Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Monday (October 8) the "worst-case scenarios" were taking place in Syria and urged the international community to act, saying Turkey would continue to do everything necessary to protect its borders.
    "Our government is in constant consultation with the Turkish military. Whatever needed is being done immediately as you see, and it will continue to be done from now on too," Gul told reporters in the capital Ankara.
    "We can't expect the situation in Syria to carry on like this. One day for sure there will be a change, but our wish is that this happens before Syria demolishes itself and more blood is shed, and we wish the international community would act more efficiently,'' he added.
    Earlier on Monday the Turkish military launched a retaliatory strike on Syria after a mortar bomb fired from Syrian soil landed in countryside in Turkey's southern province of Hatay, a Turkish state official told Reuters.
    It was the sixth consecutive day of Turkish retaliation. The round from Syria landed 150-200 metres within Turkey's border in the district of Hacipasa at about 3pm (1200 GMT), the official said.
    Local villagers took journalists to see the blast site in the middle of a cotton field, holding up bits of shell casing.
    "Don't gather here as another shell could land at any moment," said one villager to the crowds gathering in the field.
    The continued exchanges are the most serious cross-border violence in Syria's revolt against Assad, which began in March last year with protests for reform but has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones which threatens to draw in regional powers.
    NATO member Turkey was once an ally of Assad's but turned against him after his violent response to the uprising in which the United Nations says 30,000 people have died.
    Turkey has nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees in camps on its territory, has allowed rebel leaders sanctuary and has led calls for Assad to quit.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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