PM: Syria sanctions to be announced

Turkey will soon announce a roadmap for sanctions to be imposed on neighboring Syria, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Speaking at a press conference during a visit to South Africa, Erdogan said detailed plans on sanctions will be announced after a planned visit to the refugee camps in southern Turkey for Syrians who fled a brutal government crackdown. "But we already have started to implement some of them [sanctions] because they could not wait," he said. "We cannot remain a bystander of developments in Syria any longer. Oppressed, defenseless people are dying in serious numbers. We cannot say ‘let these deaths continue'," Erdogan said at the news conference, adding that the actions of Syrian security forces are unacceptable. "We had a good friendship with Mr. Assad but we have to make sure our friendship is based on principles. If these principles are trampled upon, then we will leave those friends behind," he said. Erdogan likened the Syrian crackdown on protesters to a 1982 massacre by Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, in the city of Hama. The Turkish prime minister also reiterated criticism of the current structure of the UN Security Council, where each of the five permanent members has the right to block any decision of the 15-member body. He particularly complained that resolutions passed against some countries at the UN Security Council or the General Assembly are implemented, while some others that target other countries, such as Israel, are not implemented.