Turkish PM reiterates support to any coalition against Syria

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that Turkey would take part in any international coalition against Syria, but stopped short of saying whether that would include military action, according to Reuters.

"We have said that we are ready to take part in any kind of coalition and we perceive this as a coalition of volunteers," Erdogan said without elaborating Wednesday, Sept 4, shortly before leaving for the Group of 20 meeting in St. Petersburg.

Erdogan said last week that an intervention against Syria should be aimed at bringing an end to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and cautioned against limited strikes that could leave the regime in place.

“It can’t be a 24 hours hit-and-run. What matters is stopping the bloodshed in Syria and weakening the regime to the point where it gives up,” Erdogan told reporters at a reception in the presidential palace in the capital, Ankara.

“If it is something like the example of Kosovo, the Syrian regime won’t be able to continue,” he said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Erdogan's chief adviser Yalcin Akdogan has brushed aside concerns that a U.S. strike against Syria could provoke Damascus to attack Turkey. He said that is unlikely because the consequence of attacking a more powerful neighbor would be too great.

“An attack on Turkey would be madness and suicide. That would amount to an attack on a NATO country and things would take a different turn,” Akdogan said.