TURKEY NOT SEEKING WAR IN SYRIA: TURKISH PRESIDENT

    Ankara, 15 Dzulqa’idah 1434/20 September 2013 (MINA)  –  As Syria is preparing to disclose its chemical weapons and eliminate them by mid-2014, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Friday that Turkey did not seek war, but an immediate end to bloodshed in Syria.

     “Turkey does not want war. Turkey only wants an immediate end to bloodshed in Syria,” Abdullah Gul told press members at Esenboga Airport in capital Ankara before departing for New York, where he will attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

    Gul’s remarks came after Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil admitted the civil war in his country had reached a stalemate and said the government wanted a ceasefire, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

    Jamil told, ‘Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side. An end to external intervention, a ceasefire and the launching of a peaceful political process in a way that the Syrian people can enjoy self-determination without outside intervention and in a democratic way.”

    During his New York visit, Abdullah Gul is accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Family and Social Policy Minister Fatma Sahin and Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz.

     Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the Security Council must be prepared to act next week on Syria.

     “We have to recognize that the world is watching to see whether we can avert military action and achieve through peaceful,” Kerry said.

     “A complete removal of Syria’s chemical weapons is possible here, through peaceful means. And that will be determined by the resolve of the United Nations to follow through on the agreement that Russia and the United States reached in Geneva — an agreement that clearly said this must be enforceable, it must be done as soon as possible, it must be real,” Kerry said. (T/P09/P04).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)