Turkey calls for immediate ent to Syrian crackdown

In a meeting yesterday between Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and a top Syrian envoy, Turkey called on Syria to immediately halt a violent crackdown on protesters and pass democratic reforms. The crackdown, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned as "savagery," has tested relations between the two countries, and Turkey has given sanctuary to some 8,900 Syrian refugees who have streamed across the border. "We want a strong, stable, prosperous Syria," Davutoglu told reporters after three hours of talks with Syria's Hassan Turkmani. "To achieve this we believe it necessary to implement the comprehensive reform process towards democratization guaranteed by [Syrian President] Bashar Assad." He added, speaking of his trip to tent camps for Syrian refugees in Turkey, "In order to achieve this, the violence must stop immediately. Yesterday I clearly saw the fear in the eyes of the people and I shared this." He described talks with Turkmani as friendly and Syria as Turkey's "closest friend."