Erdogan: "Killing 50 children is cruelty"

Speaking at his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) group meeting in Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed out to the Syrian government’s massacre of Hula in which 108 civilians, including 49 children and 34 women, were killed on May 25. "The sin of killing of 50 children in El-Houla is enough for the Syrian administration. This is cruelty. For doing this, you leave mercy and conscience behind you. This inhuman massacre tramples the humanistic values," Erdogan said. Touching upon the issue, Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High commissioner for Human Rights, said, "What is very clear is this was an absolutely abominable event that took place in Houla, and at least a substantial part of it was summary executions of civilians, women and children." Furthermore, Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy expelled Syrian diplomats yesterday to protest the killings. After meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan called on Assad take "bold steps" to end the fighting and salvage a six-article peace plan.