Turkey says won't tolerate Russian build-up in on Syria border

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, January 22 expressed alarm over reports of a build-up of Russian troops in northern Syria near the Turkish border, saying such movements would not be tolerated, AFP reports.

"We have said this from the beginning: we won't tolerate such formations (in northern Syria) along the area stretching from the Iraqi border up to the Mediterranean," Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said that Russia had sent a number of engineers to the Syrian border town of Qamishli to strengthen the runway and increase the capacity of an airport there.

Russia's reported move into Qamishli comes as Ankara and Moscow are experiencing their biggest crisis in years over the shooting down of a Russian war plane by Turkey on November 24.

"We maintain our sensitivities on this issue," added Erdogan, citing reports that Russia had deployed some 200 soldiers and stating that he would raise the issue Saturday in talks with visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Observers have said that Russia, which has for years been at loggerheads with Turkey over the Syrian conflict, may want to refit the airport as a Russian base, as happened in Hmeimim in Latakia province.