Turkey 'Strongly' Urges its Nationals to Leave Syria
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Turkey on Friday "strongly" urged thousands of Turkish nationals to leave Syria and said it was considering withdrawing its ambassador from the violence-wracked country.
"Developments in Syria pose serious security risks for our nationals," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "Therefore it is strongly recommended that Turkish nationals currently in Syria leave and return home."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile said his government was mulling calling home the Turkish ambassador.
"We are considering all options including the withdrawal of the ambassador from Syria," Erdogan told reporters.
The foreign ministry said it would be halting consular services by its Damascus embassy as of next Thursday, adding that its consulate in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's second largest would remain open for the time being.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on dissent has claimed more than 8,000 lives since the uprising erupted a year ago, according to U.N. estimates.
Turkey, breaking its longtime alliance with the Damascus regime, called on Assad to quit in November.
Turkey is home to a growing number of refugees fleeing the unrest in the neighboring country and has also taken in defectors from the Syrian army.
Some 15,000 Syrians have made their way to Turkey, surging since the latest crackdown in rebel strongholds near the Turkish border.
Some 270 entered Turkey on Friday, according to official government figures.
16 March 2012, 14:23
01
This is very interesting. I think this may be a significant signal for the near future, I wonder what Erdogan knows that we don't?
16 March 2012, 15:30
20
Turkey and the other losers went from threatening with iron and fire to begging or, in the case of the dictators in the Arab dumps, forcing their nationals to leave Syria! And these are countries that think they amount to anything if it were not for the immoral support of the World Losers who are just as inhumane as the Syrian regime or its likes in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
16 March 2012, 19:25
00
i agree but something must be done.. we should have a federalised system throughout the mideast.. people identify themselves through their religious sect so it should be based a concential democracy.. where each community looks after its own affairs one they get that they will in due timw lose that identity and will go onto big and better things that helps build a nation.. each sect in the middle east or arab world feels oppressed and persecuyed because of their differing religious belief.. they will come to realise in due time that a religious based nation or stae will not succeed coz within that system people become oppressed especially by the people who brought them to power IRAN.lets try a system that gives the people what they want..
16 March 2012, 16:30
00
Leo is right.
This is a good sign that serious action is imminent.
16 March 2012, 17:04
00
stop the talk and walk the walk
turkey and israel they threaten with words just do it
turkey attacks syria iran attacks iran and hizb
do you think lebanese care if iran and syria and turkey and israel destroy each other
just do it
praying for the day that happens
