ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he believed that it was "too late to end bloodshed in Syria."
"I believe that it is late. We have made the concerns heard at the time but despite all of those concerns Bashar Assad is following the footsteps of his father. And, unfortunately, he is threatening the future of Syria," Erdogan told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview.
Erdogan said a no-fly zone was needed in order to set up a buffer zone inside Syria.
"If you cannot come up with a no-fly zone, any buffer zone to be created on the ground will give the way to a manslaughter like Srebrenica. Because you have a regime that is completely desperate right now. It is attacking its people with aircraft and mercilessly slaughtering its own people," Erdogan said.
Erdogan said the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey almost reached 100 thousand, adding, "we don't know to what extend we can absorb that number."
Erdogan said Turkey favored that the UN Security Council would unanimously decide to set up a buffer zone inside Syria, adding that a concerted action on this issue would yield results very rapidly.
"Russia, China, and Iran also see these developments clearly and the end of Bashar Assad. And I am speaking very frankly, Assad is politically dead," he said.
"I have no doubt. Sooner or later the Syrian people will win against the Assad regime. Developments are pointing out that direction very clearly," Erdogan said.
Erdogan said his biggest concern over the Syria crisis was over the deployment of weapons of mass destruction.
"The biggest danger, not only for Turkey but for the entire region and the world is ... the deployment of weapons of mass destruction and chemical ones, of course. If a slightest suggestion of such an attempt should emerge, not only in Turkey, but the attitude of the entire globe is going to change forever," he said.
Asked whether Turkey would take part in a military action if such an action was led by the United States like in Kosovo, the Turkish premier said his country would do what the international law would require.
"Kosovo situation was quite identical and in Kosovo you would find NATO to be present. It is very crucial whether NATO would take up an initiative here," Erdogan said.
Responding to a question over the American stance on the Syria crisis, Erdogan said the US was expected to do more on Syria, adding that the US had not yet catered to those expectations.
"But at least they are not remaining silent in the face of the massacre. We are thankful and pleased they have stated that they're against this regime. And we want Russia and China to express that they are against the Syrian regime too," Erdogan said.
Erdogan said the structure of the UN Security Council made it impossible for the body to serve for the world peace under the current circumstances.
"If one of the permanent seat holders veto one of the resolutions, you cannot reach a resolution at all. And the council does not work in a fair method. And the world hinges on decision of the five permanent members. I requested Putin and the Chinese president to stand up and do something. Although they said they were never backing up the incidents or supporting developments in Syria, they didn't provide any support for my foreign minister at the council," he said.
Responding to the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, Erdogan said that so far there were no clear indicators as to Iran was using its nuclear capabilities to make nuclear weapons.
"They say that it is just a nuclear energy investment that they are conducting," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey and Brazil have jointly proposed a protocol to Iran and the Western powers to settle the dispute.
"If that protocol was implemented, Iran would have never produced the rods it produces today but they would have imported them from the US and they would have been swapped in Turkey. And the entire process would have been under control," Erdogan said.
Asked if Israel could stage a military attack on Iran, Erdogan said the possibility was very dim.
""I do not believe Israel will attack Iran. It's a very null probability. Otherwise would have caused an apocalypse in the entire region," Erdogan said.
"But I'm sure that I don't want to see anything like that happening in the region because in this day and age, that region needs peace and prosperity and stability."
