Azerbaijan, Baku, July 9 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Syrian authorities failed to avail itself of a plan of Arab States League and UN's Special Envoy on Syria Kofi Annan to resolve the crisis in the country, and this plan was Assad's last chance, TRT Haber TV channel quotes Turkish President Abdullah Gul as saying on Monday.
"The Annan Plan was President Assad's last chance. He failed to use it, and now it is necessary to toughen measures to resolve the crisis in the country," Gul said.
President Gul also stressed that a number of countries show certain passivity in the settlement of the Syrian crisis, as a result violence in the country continues to grow.
Anti-government protests have continued in Syria for more than a year.
They turned into an armed struggle between the opposition and units of the power structures of the country. Reports about new armed incidents and victims appear on a regular basis, despite the country having declared a truce since mid-April according to UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan's plan.
According to UN, the total number of victims of the conflict in Syria has exceeded 12,000 people. About 230,000 people became refugees.