ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Monday to continue providing Syria with “every kind of support” while condemning the wave of violence that has gripped the northwest in recent days.
“We will continue to provide every kind of support possible for our neighbour Syria to recover and preserve its territorial integrity… and to achieve peace with all its ethnic and sectarian minorities,” he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday that the security forces and allied groups had killed 1,068 civilians since Thursday, the vast majority Alawites, in the worst wave of violence since strongman Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December.
Turkey’s Erdogan says ready to intervene to prevent any division of Syria
The killings occurred in the northwestern coastal heartland of the Alawite minority to which the Assad family belongs.
“We strongly condemn any attack, terrorism and violent acts targeting Syria’s unity, integrity and social peace,” Erdogan said, welcoming a promise by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa to “hold accountable” anyone involved in killing civilians.
Erdogan also said Ankara was “taking the necessary measures to prevent any unfavourable developments from affecting Turkey”, without elaborating.
Turkey, which supports the interim administration in Damascus, has several thousand soldiers deployed on Syrian territory.
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