Azerbaijan, Baku, April 12 / Trend A.Taghieva /
If a violation of the Turkish border by the Syrian army repeats itself, or takes a serious nature, in response Turkey will take tougher measures, the Chief Advisor to President of Turkey Abdullah Gul, Ershad Hurmuzlu, told Trend on Thursday.
"Turkey is able to protect its border and Syrian refugees who had sought refuge in Turkey. If this case repeats Turkey will give a sharp response to Syria," said Hurmuzlu.
He said Turkey is a NATO member, and if the need arises, the country can ask for help from members of NATO to protect its borders.
On Monday, the Syrian army opened fire on opposition activists who tried to flee to Turkey. As a result of the incident on the border between the two countries two citizens of Syria had been killed, 11 people were injured, including a citizen of Turkey.
In response, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will respond to these actions as appropriate. Because of the incident on border Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cut short his visit to China and returned to Turkey.
With regard to the developments in Syria and Damascus declaration of the ceasefire in the country, Hurmuzlu noted that the Assad regime is not fulfilling its promises. Previously, Assad also gave many promises, but broke them, so Turkey is skeptical of claims of Damascus on cease-fire, he said.
"At this time the violence ended in Syria. But how long will work this truce is unknown. It is hard to believe the words of al-Assad," said Hurmuzlu.
Advisor to the President also said that if the violence in the country indeed stops, the Syrians will still continue to demand regime change in Syria. And it's known how the Syrian leadership will behave in such case.
On Wednesday, the Syrian authorities have declared that they will cease military operations from 06:00 Thursday. The Syrian opposition also declared its readiness of a cease-fire on Tuesday. At the same time the opposition pointed out that if government troops do not leave cities until Thursday, the rebels will continue to resist.
More than 9,000 have been killed since March 2011 in clashes between the Syrian government and the opposition, which has gone from street protests to military action.