Turkish premier calls for strong international stance on Syria crisis

ISTANBUL (AA) - April 1, 2012 - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday urged the international community to take a resolute stance to stop bloodshed in Syria, adding that the UN and Arab League resolutions provided a blueprint to end the Syrian crisis. "The international community should take a committed position on the Syrian crisis. UN and Arab League resolutions offer a clear road map on how to end the crisis," Erdogan told a conference meeting of the Friends of Syrian People in Istanbul. Erdogan said Turkey favored that a peace plan by UN-Arab League Joint Envoy Kofi Annan to yield a positive outcome, however, warned that Assad regime's poor performance in the past in honoring pledges left scarce room to hope that Damascus would not use the Annan plan to buy more time to continue with its violent oppression of the opposition. "The Syrian regime should not be allowed to manipulate this plan to gain time. This regime has never kept its promises," he said.  "It would be inevitable for the Security Council assume responsibility and say 'stop' to the massacre in Syria if the Syrian regime fails to cooperate. And if the Security Council avoids assuming this historic responsibility then there will be no other choice for the international community to support the Syrian people's right to self defense," Erdogan said.       Erdogan said there was an urgent need to devise functional ways to provide uninterrupted humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, adding any peace initiative that lacked effective monitoring mechanisms and a clear time frame for a political transition would encourage the Syrian regime for more violence. "The message we will give today should be clear: We will not support any plan that would prolong the regime's hold to power," Erdogan said.     Erdogan also called for "unity in action" which he said should couple "a unity in voice," adding that Turkey had faith in the Syrian National Council "which is the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people and its drive and ability to build a democratic Syria."          Erdogan also said Turkey had no intentions to meddle in the internal affairs of any country, adding that his country sought no political gain from "the sufferings of its neighbors."