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Turkey on Wednesday asked the U.N. Security Council to take the \u201cnecessary action\u201d to stop Syrian aggression and ensure that the government there respect Turkish territorial sovereignty after Syrian shells hit the Turkish town of Akcakale on Wednesday, killing five civilians, including a mother and her three children. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an act of aggression by Syria against Turkey,\u201d Turkish U.N. Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan said in a letter to the president of the 15-nation Security Council, Guatemalan Ambassador Gert Rosenthal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt constitutes a flagrant violation of international law as well as a breach of international peace and security,\u201d said the letter, which was obtained by Reuters.<\/p>\n
U.N. diplomats said the 15-nation council was hoping to issue a non-binding statement later on Wednesday that would condemn the mortar attack and demand an end to violations of Turkey’s territorial sovereignty.
\u201cTurkey kindly requests for the Security Council to take necessary action to put an end to such acts of aggression and to ensure that Syria respects Turkey’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and security,\u201d Apakan wrote.<\/p>\n
It was unlikely that the council would do anything more than issue a statement for the time being. The Security Council has been deadlocked on Syria’s 18-month-long conflict for more than a year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile on the same day, NATO in an emergency meeting backed Turkey in its military response to the incident and called on Syria to abide by international law. <\/p>\n
NATO ambassadors met under the alliance\u2019s article 4, for consultations when a member state feels its territorial integrity is under threat.
\u201cThe Alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an Ally and urges the Syrian regime to end flagrant violations of international law,\u201d a statement said after the meeting was called at Ankara\u2019s request. <\/p>\n
Turkey on Wednesday bombed Syrian targets in response to Syrian mortar shelling, the prime minister\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur armed forces in the border region immediately retaliated against this heinous attack… by shelling the targets spotted by radar,\u201d Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Syria said it is looking into the origin of the deadly attacks. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe concerned parties are currently studying the origin of the fire against Turkey,\u201d Information Omran Zoabi said.
said in a statement reported by state television.<\/p>\n
\u201cSyria offers it sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to our friends the Turkish people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The United States condemned the \u201cdepraved\u201d Syrian shelling and said it was monitoring the tense situation closely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is yet another example of the depraved behavior of the Syrian regime, and why it must go,\u201d Pentagon spokesman George Little said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe regret the loss of life in Turkey, a strong ally, and continue to monitor the situation closely.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced American outrage at Syria\u2019s shelling of Turkish territories and described the situation as \u201cvery dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are outraged that the Syrians have been shooting across the border. We are very regretful about the loss of life on the Turkish side,\u201d Clinton told reporters after Syrian shells hit the Turkish town of Akcakale.<\/p>\n
She added it was a \u201cvery, very dangerous\u201d situation, and would be talking later with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu about \u201cwhat the best way forward would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis also comes down to a regime that is causing untold suffering to its own people solely driven by their desire to stay in power,\u201d Clinton said after talks in the State Department with Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov.<\/p>\n
The United States has long insisted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should step down and end a 19-month rebellion that has claimed some 30,000 lives.<\/p>\n
Damascus is \u201caided and abetted by nations like Iran that are standing firmly by the Assad regime regardless of the loss of life, the damage that is happening both inside Syria and now increasingly across Syria\u2019s borders with their neighbors,\u201d Clinton added.<\/p>\n
All \u201cresponsible nations need to band together\u201d to persuade the Assad regime to agree to a ceasefire and begin a political transition, she said.<\/p>\n
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said earlier that the cross-border shelling was a clear violation of Turkey\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Source: Al Arabiya.net<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Turkey on Wednesday asked the U.N. Security Council to take the \u201cnecessary action\u201d to stop Syrian aggression and ensure that the government there respect Turkish territorial sovereignty after Syrian shells hit the Turkish town of Akcakale on Wednesday, killing five civilians, including a mother and her three children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n