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Turkey talks to Syria about ending violence

09 August 2011 22:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkey’s foreign minister said he met President Bashar Assad for more than six hours on Tuesday to discuss "concrete steps" Syria should take to stop its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters, APA reports siting Xinhua.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army launched a series of new raids around the country, which activists said killed 22 people.
Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking to reporters on his return to Turkey from Damascus, said the talks were cordial but did not say what steps they had discussed or whether Assad had agreed to consider them.
"We discussed ways to prevent confrontation between the army and the people in the most open and clear way," the Turkish foreign minister said.
Assad is facing growing international condemnation over the regime’s deadly crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising. Envoys from India, Brazil and South Africa are also headed to Damascus to press for an end to the violence.
The visit by Davutoglu is significant because Ankara until recently had close ties to Damascus. But Turkey has become increasingly critical of its neighbor over the bloodshed.
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Assad told Davutoglu the Syrian government will be relentless in its pursuit of "terrorist groups" to safeguard stability and security in the country. Syrian authorities blame the unrest on extremist and terrorist groups seeking to destabilize the country, as opposed to true-reform seekers. But the protesters being killed are mostly unarmed and peaceful.
SANA said Assad also pledged to press ahead with reforms. But promises reform have rung hollow, especially since they have been coupled with a bloody campaign against civilians.
Human rights groups said Tuesday that at least 22 people, including several children, were killed across Syria Tuesday.