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| Turkey's President Abdullah Gul greets people as he visits one of the two blast sites, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people over the weekend, in the town of Reyhanli, in Hatay province near the Turkish-Syrian border, May 16, 2013. |
President Barack Obama said on Thursday he reserved the right to
resort to both diplomatic and military options to pressure Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad but insisted that US action alone would not be
enough to resolve the Syrian crisis.
Taking a cautious line at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Obama voiced hope that the United States and
Russia would succeed in arranging an international peace conference on
Syria, despite signs of growing obstacles. Erdogan had been expected to
push Obama, at least in private, for more assertive action on Syria
during a visit to Washington this week, days after car bombs tore
through a Turkish border town in the deadliest spillover of violence
yet.
Obama - who has been reluctant to arm Syrian opposition group or
become enmeshed militarily in the conflict - made no mention of deeper
engagement in Syria during an appearance at the White House, where the
leaders sought to project a united front.
"What we have to do is apply steady international pressure," Obama said.
Both leaders stressed the need to bring the Syrian government and
opposition to the negotiating table after more than two years of
fighting that has killed more than 80,000 people and risks destabilizing
the volatile Middle East.
Turkey, a US NATO ally, has been one of Assad's fiercest critics,
throwing its weight behind the uprising, allowing the opposition to
organize on its soil and sheltering 400,000 refugees. Earlier on
Thursday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul criticized the world's response
on Syria as limited to "rhetoric," saying his country had received
little help with the refugee influx. Gul's role is largely a ceremonial
one.
Erdogan faces growing domestic concern about Turkey's role in Syria
and its cost. He said Ankara would maintain its "open-door policy"
toward Syrian refugees. He estimated that Ankara had already spent 1.5
billion USD on the problem.
Turkey has been among the strongest opponents of Assad but its
enthusiasm for action against Syria has waned recently, partly in
frustration at the fractured Syrian opposition and growing brutality.
Fighters of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria executed 11 men
they accused of taking part in massacres by Assad's forces in a video
published on Thursday. A man whose face was covered in a black balaclava
shot each man in the back of the head as they kneeled, blindfolded and
lined up in a row in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor.
Sources :
http://www.republika.co.id/berita/en/international/13/05/17/mmwwht-obama-us-preserves-diplomatic-military-options-on-syria
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