Turkish-Arab Forum: For Urgent Steps to Protect Syrians, No to Foreign Intervention
Turkey and members of the Arab League called Wednesday for "urgent measures" to protect Syrian civilians from violent repression by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement issued after a Turkish-Arab cooperation forum in the Moroccan capital Rabat, they also declared they were "against all foreign intervention in Syria."
"The forum declares that it is necessary to stop the bloodshed and to spare Syrian citizens from new acts of violence and killing, and demands that urgent measures are taken to ensure the protection of civilians," the statement said.
"Ministers also stressed the importance of Syria's stability and unity and the need to find a resolution to the crisis without any foreign intervention," it said.
The Turkish-Arab talks came ahead of an Arab League meeting on the Syrian crisis in Rabat amid growing signs the Assad regime is losing its grip on power with disaffected soldiers attacking a military base near Damascus.
The meeting is intended to discuss further measures against Syria which was suspended by the 22-member bloc last weekend after it failed to implement an Arab peace plan.
These would include sanctions such as the withdrawal of ambassadors.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Wednesday urged the organization to act decisively to stem the bloodshed in Syria.
"Everything must be done to stop the ongoing bloodshed in Syria," Arabi told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
Arabi said he hoped that Arab moves to send observers to Syria would bear fruit within days. But he reiterated that no observers would be sent before a clear agreement is signed between the Arab League and Damascus.
The pan-Arab body had agreed to send 500 members of human rights groups, media representatives and military observers to Syria, which said it would welcome them to see the situation on the ground and help implement the peace plan.
Despite its suspension from the bloc, Syria had been invited to Wednesday's meeting but decided to boycott it.
The foreign minister of Turkey, which shares a border with northern Syria, is in Rabat however where he is expected to be one of the leading hawks.
"The cost for the Syrian administration of not fulfilling the promises it made to the Arab League (to end violence) is its isolation in the Arab world as well," Ahmet Davutoglu told his Arab counterparts.
"The Syrian administration should read the messages given by the Arab League, immediately put an end to the violence against its own people and open the way for an inevitable transformation process," he added.
"It is not possible for any administration to win the fight against its own people ... Time is ticking against the Syrian regime. All the credit and hands extended to Syria thus far have been wasted," he went on to say.
"A future cannot be built on the blood of the innocent, otherwise history will remember those leaders as the ones who feed on blood," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.
Turkey has already announced a halt to joint oil exploration with Syria and has threatened to cut electricity exports there.
World leaders have been looking to the Arab League to take a tough line with Syria.
On the eve of the meeting, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said it was "crucially important now that President Assad immediately stop killing his own people" and he urged Arab states to exercise "leadership" in resolving the crisis quickly.
The United States also urged Arab leaders to step up pressure on Damascus.
They should tell Assad "that he needs to allow for a democratic transition to take place and to end the violence against his own people," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The decision by the Arab League on Saturday to suspend Syria over its crackdown on protests is only the third suspension of a member in the pan-Arab body's history
On Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah II urged Assad to step down over the repression, becoming the first Arab head of state to call for the Syrian president's resignation.
His call coincided with one of the bloodiest days since the start of the uprising, with more than 70 people killed, including several suspected army deserters.
After his statement, Assad loyalists attacked the Jordanian embassy in Damascus, tearing down its flag, the latest in a series of such attacks on diplomatic missions.
Source: Agence France Presse
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