BON VILLELABEITIA
Published: 2011/09/22 09:11:58 AM
TURKEY has suspended talks with Syria and may impose sanctions, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday — the clearest sign yet Turkey has parted ways with President Bashar al-Assad over his crackdown on antigovernment protesters.
After long maintaining close relations with neighbour Syria, Turkey has spoken out increasingly against Mr al-Assad. Mr Erdogan said last week that Turkey’s approach to Syria had changed and it would announce its “final” decision by the time of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
“I halted talks with the Syrian government. I did not want to come to this point. But the Syrian government forced us to make such a decision,” Mr Erdogan told Turkish journalists in New York yesterday after meeting US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
“The US has sanctions regarding Syria. Our foreign ministers will be working together to decide what our sanctions may be. ” He said the santions “may not resemble those on Libya. Every sanction differs according to country, people and demographic structure.”
Mr al-Assad’s attempt to stamp out dissent by having troops and tanks assault restive areas has led the US and European Union to gradually escalate economic sanctions.
Turkey, which has been Syria’s main trading partner, had resisted sanctions after suffering the effects of past sanctions imposed on Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule and now on Iran, another neighbour.
Bilateral trade between Turkey and Syria was $2,5bn last year, up from $500m in 2004.
Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that has had open communication lines with Damascus.
Separately, Syria accused Israel yesterday of posing a threat to the world with its “huge military nuclear arsenal”, a day after the Jewish state criticised Damascus for stonewalling a United Nations watchdog investigation into its atomic activities. The exchange, at a UN nuclear agency meeting, underlined deep divisions between Arab states and Israel. Reuters
via BusinessDay – Turkey may join US in sanctions against Syria.
Leave a Reply