Turkey Plans Military Exercise on Syrian Border

By AYLA ALBAYRAK

ISTANBUL—Turkey said on Tuesday that it would hold military exercises close to the Syrian border and that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would disclose steps to be taken against Damascus when he visits refugee camps in the area in the coming days.

The moves came as Col. Riad al As’ad, a former Syrian military officer, reported to have been detained by Turkey and handed over to Damascus, surfaced in Turkey and denied the reports.

The Turkish armed forces said on its website Tuesday that it would conduct military exercises in Hatay province, close to the Syrian border, from Wednesday through Oct. 13. The exercise, which the website called routine, would involve a mechanized brigade and some 700 reservists.

“We cannot remain spectators to developments in Syria any longer. There are serious deaths and (attacks) against innocent, oppressed people,” Mr. Erdogan told reporters during a visit to South Africa on Tuesday, Turkey’s state news agency, Anadolu Ajansi, reported.

Mr. Erdogan expressed Turkey’s support for a draft resolution on Syria at the United Nations Security Council. He also said he would visit camps in Hatay where some 7,500 Syrians have taken refuge from turmoil across the border, either this weekend or next week.

“Then we will make our assessment as Turkey and make a statement,” Mr. Erdogan said, Anadolu reported. A Turkish official said it remained uncertain whether that would involve sanctions.

Turkish officials feel under pressure to act, given the lack of further options available to governments in the U.S. and Europe. Ankara is enforcing an arms embargo, but has been reluctant to impose economic sanctions that might harm primarily Turkish and Syrian businessmen, rather than the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey exported $1 billion of goods to Syria in the first six months of the year, slightly up from the year-earlier period despite the turmoil, according to figures from the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly.

Turkey’s government had exceptionally warm relations with the Assad regime—the Erdogan and Assad families even went on vacation together in 2008—but relations turned sour this year when Mr. Assad ignored Turkish pressure to end the crackdown on opponents and institute changes.

Col. As’ad, who defected and fled to Turkey about three months ago, leads Syria’s main military defectors group, the Free Syrian Army, after merging it with another dissident army group last month, said Omar Idlibi, a spokesperson for the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network.

Col. As’ad combined his group with the Free Officers Movement, led by Col. Hussein Harmoush and based in Turkey along the Syrian border. That group was dealt a serious setback in September when Col. Harmoush appeared on Syrian state television, appearing to confess that his movement didn’t actually exist.

Activists say they believe he was either tricked back into Syria by covert intelligence officers, where he was captured by forces there, or handed over by Turkish authorities.

“We did not hand over anyone,” said a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry. He said the rumors had begun in the Syrian press when Col. As’ad became ill and was taken by ambulance from his refugee camp to a hospital, accompanied by Turkish health officials.

Col. As’ad said Tuesday that he was living unmolested in Turkey, Anadolu reported. “Turkish authorities have not applied any pressure or violence on us,” he said.

Army defectors have multiplied in recent weeks and are increasingly claiming responsibility for attacks on security forces. Last week, activists said defectors in al-Rastan, a town north of Homs, destroyed about a dozen tanks. Dissident soldiers, mostly low-ranking Sunni conscripts, say they are keeping their light weapons with them and urging other soldiers to defect to protect civilians. There haven’t yet been any announced defections from higher-ranking Alawite soldiers, who form the military’s backbone and are Assad loyalists.

—Nour Malas in Dubai and Marc Champion in Istanbul contributed to this article.

via Turkey Plans Military Exercise on Syrian Border – WSJ.com.