A security summit convened under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at his office discussed necessary steps and measures to be taken against the escalating tension across the Turkish-Syrian border in recent days, Today's Zaman reported.
Along with Erdoğan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz and other top state officials attended the meeting to review and discuss recent developments in the region, but especially along the long border with Syria.
Sources say Syria was the main topic of discussion at the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours.
No official statement was made following the meeting.
The escalation of fighting between opposition forces and regime loyalists fueled concerns in Ankara that the longer the conflict persists, the risk of being dragged into war may grow.
Turkey has already boosted its military presence along the Syrian border and is in talks with NATO over the deployment of Patriot missiles along the Syrian border to avert any threat stemming from the ongoing conflict in its southern neighbor.