Rasmussen: "NATO to take all necessary steps to protect Turkey"

NATO's chief has stated that they will not leave Turkey alone in Syrian crisis and in the event of a negative situation NATO will take necessary steps to protect Turkey without hesitation. NATO which closely monitors developments in Syria sought political solution to the crisis. Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that they stood ready to take all necessary steps to protect Syria's neighbor Turkey. "International community should send a clear and strong message that it supports people's demands in Syria," Rasmussen said. Rasmussen said NATO had no plan to intervene militarily in Syria, though it was monitoring the situation closely because Syria's neighbor Turkey - which is struggling to cope with a huge influx of refugees - is a NATO member. "Of course we stand ready to take all necessary steps to protect and defend Turkey as an ally within NATO," he told Reuters in an interview.