Turkish FM says Syria unrest security concern for Turkey

ANKARA (A.A) - December 9, 2011 - Turkish foreign minister has defied criticisms that Turkey intervened in Syria's domestic affairs, saying the political turmoil in Syria constituted a "security concern" for Turkey. "We did not put our nose in anyone's business and we won't. But we do not have the luxury to say 'let's wait and see' if domestic developments of another country pose a security risk for our own country," Ahmet Davutoglu told a press meeting with diplomatic correspondents in the Turkish capital, Ankara.  Davutoglu said more than four thousand people were killed, ten thousand people went missing and thousands are in jail in Syrian regime's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests. "It is not that Turkey wakes up one morning and decides to take Syria as an enemy. We have the moral obligation and the right to tell them to stop if thousands attempt to cross the border into your country and nearly ten thousand people take shelter in your country," Davutoglu said.      Turkey has recently moved to impose sanctions on Syria including freezing financial assets and cutting strategic links with Damascus as well as blocking the delivery of weapons and military equipment and suspend a cooperation agreement to penalize the Assad regime for its refusal to halt violence on civilians. "If there is one country who has called on Syria the most to stop clashing with its people, it is Turkey. We have talked to them for eight months. It was in as early as 2005 that the Turkish prime minister first told Bashar al Assad to make reforms. Prime Minister Erdogan told him that it was the right time to engage in reform efforts when the Arab Spring just started," Davutoglu said.