The session is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentary group deputy chairman Nurettin Canikli told the state-run Anatolia news agency earlier in the day that the session will be an open debate. The briefing comes amidst a fragile ceasefire in the neighboring country brokered by UN-Arab league envoy Kofi Annan to end the 13-month-old Syrian conflict.
In televised remarks made on Monday night, Davutoğlu said the Syrian administration is at war with the Syrian people adding, “Some 600,000 people in Homs have been displaced from their homes,” adding that journalists must observe Homs with their own eyes. “Those who present the image that Turkey has exaggerated the problems in Syria are either not following developments or do not appreciate the honorable struggle of the Syrian people,” Davutoğlu noted. Davutoğlu said that back in 2005, at a time when the whole world had closed their doors to the Assad administration, Turkey opened its doors. “Turkey did not do anything wrong in its stance towards the Syrian regime and did not make any poor decisions,” Davutoğlu stressed. The foreign minister emphasized that people in Syria who stand up for their freedoms are presented as if they are the ones who have caused problems. “The Syrian administration is in a war with the Syrian people. We do know what is taking place in Syria village by village. Homs is surrounded and subject to artillery fire. Not all people are terrorists. Many, including Russia and China, have told the Syrian administration that they were implementing the wrong methods. Syria must respond to peaceful demands. Peace could arrive in the region if the Syrian people are given the right to determine their own future and establish political parties,” Davutoğlu said. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli criticized on Tuesday the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Syrian policy saying that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is repeating his views on Syria like a stuck record at each platform he is attending, which is an indicator of his determination to make every effort to intervene in Syria. “He went as far as pointing out NATO’s fifth article to the parties involved due to the violation of the Turkish-Syrian border,” said Bahçeli.
