Syria is on path of no return, says Gul

President Abdullah Gul held a joint press conference with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak at the Presidential Palace yesterday. Speaking at the conference, Gul expressed his regrets over the vetoing of a UN Security Council resolution against Damascus, saying that Syria is on a path of no return and that the best thing Assad could do is to stop insisting on his policies and embrace change. "Everyone should remember that the Cold War era is now over. The violations of human rights and use of military against civilians have no place in this world," Gul said. As Gul and his South Korean counterpart signed a declaration on Monday to establish a strategic cooperation, Gul said Turkey wanted to make nuclear energy an element of strategic cooperation between the two countries. Gul said that Turkey was willing to cooperate with South Korea in manufacturing Turkey's new attack helicopter. "We want to cooperate with South Korea on the Atak helicopters, which will be incorporated into the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) inventory. Furthermore, I reiterated that Turkey was also willing to cooperate with South Korea in other areas such as aircraft manufacturing and we also discussed these issues in detail," Gul said. Speaking in his part, Lee said that he believed relations between the two countries would be further improved thanks to the strategic cooperation document they have signed today.