Turkish PM Presses for Intervention in Syria

Warns Looming 'Civil War' Threatens Turkey

In a televised speech today, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for international intervention in Syria to stave off an incipient civil war in neighboring Syria, saying that he believes Turkey should take the lead in the move.

The situation that has emerged there is right now heading toward a religious, sectarian and racial civil war. This must be stopped,” insisted Erdogan, adding that he believed a civil war in Syria would “pose a threat to us.”

Turkey has been rumored for quite some time to be among the most eager nations to intervene militarily in Syria, with reports dating back to June that the Turkish government was considering sending troops to occupy northern Syria to create a “buffer zone.

Of course the growing civil war in Syria has been fueled in no small part by Turkish meddling in the first place, with the Erdogan government giving safe haven to defector factions from the Syrian military that have been launching attacks on targets inside Syria, as well as propping up a Libya-style “transition council” based in Istanbul that has been pushing for international military intervention.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.