Erdogan made the remarks in Ankara on Sunday during his address to a major congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is celebrating a decade of electoral success and a solid economic growth.
“We will do what a brother would do. And we will continue to give the Syrian people our logistical support,” declared the Turkish prime minister whose country along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United States are accused of arming and funding the insurgents operating in the Arab country.
Western states and some of their Middle Eastern allies have been calling for President Assad to step down but Russia and China are strongly opposed to the Western drive to oust Assad.
Erdogan appealed to Russia and China to change their stance on Assad. “We call on Russia, China… please review your stance that you have maintained on this matter up until now.”
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi also attended Turkey’s ruling party event in Ankara.
In his speech, Morsi referred to the Syrian unrest as the tragedy of the century, saying, “There, on Syrian soil, Syrian people are being killed day and night. Women are being raped. They are experiencing the tragedy of the century… This tragedy in Syria is making us sleepless.”
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.
(Press TV)
