WarSclerotic

Turkish PM: Assad buying time for more massacres | The Times of Israel.

Erdogan says it’s ‘doubtful’ Syria will follow through on Russian proposal and subject chemical weapons to international control

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters and lawmakers at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, June 25, 2013 (photo credit: AP)

In agreeing to a Russian proposal to subject his chemical weapons to international supervision, Syrian President Bashar Assad is buying time to commit massacres against his people, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged Thursday.

“The Assad regime has not lived up to any of its pledges. It has won time for new massacres and continues to do so,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul, according to Reuters. “We are doubtful that the promises regarding chemical weapons will be met.”

Assad’s government has publicly accepted a proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control, but there has been little progress in the UN Security Council due to divisions over the content of the resolution relating to it.

The US and France have pushed for a resolution calling for military force if Assad fails to live up to his end, while Russia and China are firmly opposed to such a provision.

The diplomatic flurry follows the threat of US strikes against the Assad regime in the wake of a lethal August 21 chemical attack outside Damascus.

A surprise statement came this week from US Secretary of State John Kerry to the effect that Syria could avert US military action by turning over “every single bit of his chemical weapons” to international control within a week.

Russia, Syria’s most important ally, and Assad’s government quickly agreed on the broad proposal, but details still need to be worked out.

Erdogan has long been advocating for the removal of Assad from power.

On August 31, the Turkish leader says a limited military response to the reported use of chemical weapons by Assad’s regime is not enough, and any kind of intervention should aim to topple him.

“It can’t be a 24 hours hit-and-run,” Erdogan told reporters at the presidential palace in Ankara. “What matters is stopping the bloodshed in Syria and weakening the regime to the point where it gives up.”

Erdogan cited the 1999 NATO air campaign during the war in Kosovo as a good example of the type of action he’d like to see.

“If it is something like the example of Kosovo, the Syrian regime won’t be able to continue,” he said.

There are currently some 500,000 Syrian refugees living in Turkey. The Syrian civil war has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people, according to the latest UN figures.

Erdogan, a former ally of the Syrian president, turned against him several months after the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.

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