Turkey
will suspend all financial dealings with Syria and freeze Syrian
government assets as part of sanctions against President Bashar Assad's
government, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday.
Davutoglu
also told a news conference that Turkey, once a close friend of
Damascus, would block the delivery of all weapons and military equipment
to Damascus as part of measures aimed at persuading Assad to end a
violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.
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Turkey's move
follows Arab League sanctions imposed on Syria Sunday. Davutoglu also
said a cooperation agreement with Syria was being suspended until there
was a new government in place.
"Until a legitimate government
which is at peace with its people is in charge in Syria, the mechanism
of the High Level of Strategic Cooperation has been suspended,"
Davutoglu said, adding that Assad's government had come "to the end of
the road."
The
United Arab Emirates also announced that its airlines will suspend flights to Syria next week
under sanctions imposed by the Arab League, the government of Dubai's
press office said on its Twitter feed Wednesday.
It gave no further details. The country's main airlines are Emirates and Etihad Airways.
Davutoglu suggested military force remained an option, albeit apparently
a remote one, if Assad did not heed calls to halt the violence.
"If the oppression continues, Turkey is ready for any scenario. We hope
that a military intervention will never be necessary. The Syrian regime
has to find a way of making peace with its own people," he told Kanal 24
TV.
Davutoglu also raised the possibility of a buffer zone if the violence
provoked a flood of refugees, an idea used by Ankara inside northern
Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991.
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