Speaking today at a press conference in Tripoli, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan predicted that his nation’s neighbor and long time ally Syria was soon to undergo a regime change.

“Those who are attacking their people with tanks and guns will not be able to remain in power,” warned Erdogan, adding that Assad “will eventually have to pay the price for this,” and that “totalitarian regimes are disappearing.”

Though Turkey has been public with their criticism of the Assad regime’s increasingly bloody crackdown on dissent, Erdogan’s comments are the most straightforward call for regime change yet.

Turkey has been faced with a massive influx of refugees from Syria, and earlier this summer they were reported to be considering invading the northern belt of Syrian territory to create a “buffer zone” to house all of the refugees.

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