Turkey slams killing of an ethnic Kurdish leader in Syria

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey has condemned the killing of an ethnic Kurdish leader in Syria and warned President Bashar al Assad's government that violent suppression of the opposition "cannot turn back the course of history."

Unidentified assailants shot dead Mishaal al-Tammo on Friday, October 7, in the Syrian city of Qamishli, and two people were killed when gunmen opened fire during Tammo's funeral on Saturday as some of the 50,000 mourners began chanting anti-Assad slogans.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said he plans to impose sanctions on former ally Syria, to try to put pressure on Assad to halt a bloody crackdown on protesters who first took to the streets in March.

"We are deeply saddened by the heinous assassination of Mishaal al-Tammo, leader of the Syrian Kurdish Future Party," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website late on Saturday evening.

Turkey also decried an assault on another leading Syrian opposition figure, Riad Seif. Syrian activists have posted footage on Youtube.com allegedly showing the former lawmaker being beaten in front of a mosque in Damascus, Reuters reported.