Turkey is a strong backer of Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Al-Assad, whose government views all of its armed opponents as terrorists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has several times called on Assad to resign. In August of 2013 Erdogan, then the Prime Minister of Turkey, said that the goal of any military intervention in Syria should be to topple Assad’s regime. The heightened tensions between Turkey and Syria have led to several cross-border incidents, including the explosion of a Syrian mortar in Turkish territory, which killed five civilians. The Turkish army responded by attacking several targets in Syria. Turkeys parliament later gave the government the green light to use military force against Syria if necessary. In another incident, Turkey intercepted a Syrian Airbus A320 flying from Moscow to Damascus and escorted it to the Esenboga Airport in Ankara. Turkey later claimed it had seized objectionable cargo aboard the Syrian passenger plane. Syria, in turn, accused Turkey of lying.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 06:31:55 +0000
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