Turkish president: Syria experiencing 'worst-case scenarios'
As shelling continued across the Turkey-Syria border, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Monday Turkey would do anything necessary to protect itself, and bloodshed in Syria would only stop with action from the international community.
Smoke rises after a mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in Turkish soil on the Turkish-Syrian border in southern Hatay province October 8. Turkey's military launched a retaliatory strike, a Turkish state official told Reuters. It was the sixth consecutive day of Turkish retaliation against bombardment from the Syrian side of the border, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces are battling rebels.
Aykut Unlupinar/Reuters
Guvecci, Turkey
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Monday the "worst-case scenarios" were now playing out in Syria and Turkey would to do everything necessary to protect itself, while its army fired back for a sixth day after a shell fired from Syria flew over the border.
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Gul said the violence in Turkey's southern neighbour, where a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has evolved into a civil war that threatens to draw in regional powers, could not go on indefinitely and Assad's fall was inevitable.
"The worst-case scenarios are taking place right now in Syria ... Our government is in constant consultation with the Turkish military. Whatever is needed is being done immediately as you see, and it will continue to be done," Gul said.
"There will be a change, a transition sooner or later ... It is a must for the international community to take effective action before Syria turns into a bigger wreck and further blood is shed, that is our main wish," he told reporters in Ankara.
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