Al-Assad an "unbelievable" national security threat to Turkey, says senior U.S. diplomat Hof

WASHINGTON (A.A) - December 15, 2011 - A senior U.S. diplomat in Washington, Frederic Hof, said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was an "unbelievable" national security threat to Turkey. A Special Coordinator at the U.S. Special Representation on the Middle East, Hof answered questions of the members of the sub-committee on the Middle East and South Asia of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the U.S. House of Representatives on Syria on Wednesday. "I think the big thing that's happened over the past several months is a basic change in how Turkey analyzes the central nature of the problem in Syria. Turkey has gradually but irreversibly come to the conclusion that Bashar al-Assad is not part of the solution. He is part of the problem. He poses an unbelievable national security threat to Turkey," Hof said. "Turkey has provided shelter to the Free Syrian Army. What the Turks tell us, and we have no reason to disbelieve them, is that they are not arming these folks and sending them across into Syria. That is their position. We have no reason to disbelieve it," Hof noted. "I am sure that Turkey is examining many, many, many different options and contingencies right now based on a variety of scenarios that could come up. I am not aware of any near-term plans to establish safe zones or whatever on Syrian territory," Hof underlined. "We've identified over time basically seven categories of sanctions -- Central Bank of Syria, commercial bank of Syria, other financial institutions, government officials, other individuals involved in repression, governmental entities and non-governmental entities. These are the general categories of things to target. And those seven categories over time the United States is seven for seven. The European Union is six for seven, including perhaps the most significant of the sanctions, which is the cut off of importing -- of imports of Syrian oil," Hof stressed. "The Arab League, if it goes through with sanctions, will at this stage be three for seven. Turkey will be three for seven. So I think in the future much of our effort will be in working with Turkey and with the Arab league to see if -- to see if additional work can be done in that -- in that area," Hof added.