Erdoğan warns Syria of reprisals in event of further hostility

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

AA photo

Turkey is prepared to retaliate against Syria for any hostile action, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday while arguing that the Syrian regime’s days are numbered.

“Turkey has taken all necessary precautions within the framework of international law vis-à-vis [Syria’s] hostile attitude. Turkey has changed its rules of engagement in order to prevent an incident similar [to the June 22 downing of a Turkish jet]. If Syria does not take lessons from these developments and continues its hostile attitude, Turkey will not avoid retaliating,” Erdoğan said yesterday evening at the fifth Traditional Fast-Breaking Dinner for Foreign Mission Chiefs and Ambassadors in Ankara.

Erdoğan said Syria’s downing of the plane was entirely a hostile act that ignored international law.

The prime minister also called time on the present Syrian government. “This bloody regime in Syria will go sooner or later. As a matter of fact, the ruthless massacres which have been committed in recent days in a panicked mood also portend [the end of] the regime in Syria,” Erdoğan said.
 
“We believe that the Syrian people are closer than ever to victory,” he said.