Turkish FM says Turkey to follow suit with Arab League on Syria sanctions

RABAT (A.A) - November 16, 2011 - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday said Turkey considered imposing more sanctions on Syria to support the Arab League's move to punish the Syrian regime for its failure to end a seven-month-old political crisis and violent crackdown on pro-democracy protestors. "I would like to bring it to your attention that in a parallel move with the Arab League's steps as indicated in a November 12 resolution, Turkey is considering to take some measures on its own to support those steps of the Arab League," Davutoglu told his counterparts in a Rabat meeting of the Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum. Davutoglu said "resistance to change" in certain countries of the region still remained high despite promising developments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya after the Arab Spring, adding "this resistance cannot last long. No one is powerful enough to reverse back the course of the history. It is in vain to try to stand against the will of the people."         Davutoglu said regional issues needed regional solutions which he said would be more effective, successful and viable, adding that Turkey supported the Arab League's efforts to end bloodshed in Syria. "The Syrian regime should read well the message the Arab League is sending and it should stop violence against its own people to open the way for the inevitable democratic transformation," Davutoglu said.