Türkİye, Middle East

Turkey calls for use of force to halt Syria atrocities

EU minister says Assad regime blocking political resolution to conflict

12.04.2017 - Update : 12.04.2017
Turkey calls for use of force to halt Syria atrocities Turkish EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Omer Celik

ADANA, Turkey

A government minister on Wednesday called for military force to be used against Bashar al-Assad’s regime to prevent atrocities against civilians.

EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said Assad manipulated efforts to resolve the six-year conflict in Syria while carrying out attacks on civilians.

“The world needs to use force to stop the massacres,” he told Anadolu Agency during a visit to Adana province, southern Turkey.

“We have always talked about a political solution until now but we know how Assad blocked political solution processes. When the political solution is alive, the answer given by Assad is [use of] chemical weapons.”

Celik did not say whether Ankara would be willing to provide troops for any military force against Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran.

Turkey ended a seven-month operation in northern Syria last month that had been aimed at ridding the region of terrorists.

Last week, a chemical attack in Khan Sheikhun carried out by Assad forces left more than 100 civilians dead. Authorities in Turkey who have treated some of the survivors have said that sarin gas was used.

In late 2016, Russia and Turkey brokered a cease-fire that has been widely breached despite peace talks in Astana and Geneva.

 “Assad must end his policy of killing through the use of chemical or standard weapons,” Celik added. “Otherwise, the political solution will not be put in practice.”

According to the UN envoy on Syria, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency's Editors’ Desk on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak recalled the recent deadly chemical attack in northern Syria and said it was not the first such attack by the regime.

"The decision of the United Nations to start an investigation is not enough,” Kaynak said, adding: “It must be brought directly to the Hague International Criminal Court."

“Former U.S. President [Barrack] Obama had said the chemical attacks were their redline. After that our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ‘is killing people with conventional weapons not as important as killing them with chemical weapons?’” Kaynak recalled.

“We cannot ignore the fact that death is death after a bomb kills a patient in a hospital, a child in a school or a woman at a market place,” Kaynak said, accusing the world countries of being “insensitive” to the Assad’s killings.

Kaynak described the U.S. intervention in Syria as “hopeful”, saying Iran and Russia’s support to Assad regime was “upsetting”.

“There is a killer who is able to use chemical weapons against his citizens, against the vulnerable people, and he [Assad] is your ally, and you are protecting him,” he added.

Reporting by Ibrahim Erikan; Writing by Burcu Arik, Sibel Ugurlu

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