Turkey opens door to Syrian refugees

Reacting to the Russian and Chinese veto to a United Nations Security Council resolution to stop the killings of civilians by Syrian security sources, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu said Turkey’s doors were “open to all Syrians who want to flee from oppression.” “We are ready to host them in our homes if necessary,” Davuto?lu added as part of a new stage to step up pressure on the Bashar al-Assad regime. The move will open questions as to the reasons behind the move, as Turkey earlier announced that there could be only two conditions for Turkish involvement in military action in the Syrian situation; a UN Security Council decision based on humanitarian reasoning or a massive flood of refugees into Turkey. However the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a written statement yesterday categorically denying media reports that Turkey and the United States had agreed on a military action plan on Syria in February 4’s meeting in Munich between Davuto?lu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Davuto?lu made no comment on US Senator Joseph Lieberman’s statement after he said that his country might consider providing weapons to a Free Syrian Army consisting of defectors from Syrian army and forming the military wing of the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council. “We don’t want to lose our hopes and we don’t want to let the Syrian people down,” Davuto?lu said. “But Lavrov should have done this months ago.” The diplomat explained the latest move as follows: “Syrian people should not be victimised by a power game between the permanent members of the UN Security Council. The UN resolution, which was proposed by the Arab League and Turkey who are affected by the Syrian crisis, were vetoed by those who are not directly related with it; it’s an ethical and legalistic weakness regarding international politics. But [even] if the international community prefers to remain silent before this human tragedy, Turkey continues to do whatever is necessary.”