Turkey is taking all measures and will continue to provide all possible support for the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, referring to the escalating violence against the Alawites and Christians of Syria and denounced what he described as “efforts to ignite the Syrian ‘fire’ in Turkey“.

Speaking after the cabinet meeting in Ankara, the Turkish president said that in many parts of Syria “tempts are being made to create, sometimes ethnic and sometimes religious conflicts, tensions and unrest. We saw the latest example of this in our neighboring Syria, where provocateurs of the remnants of the former regime committed terrorist acts aimed at provoking religious conflicts.”

He said the Syrian government had “intervened effectively and brought the incidents largely under control“, but the situation on the ground was still delicate, and welcomed the message from interim President Ahmed al-Saraa that those who break the law would be punished.

He condemned “in the strongest terms all kinds of attacks and terrorist acts aimed at the unity and social peace of Syria,” as he said, stressing that Turkey is taking the necessary measures and also making “the necessary indications to the Syrian authorities to quickly leave the tense atmosphere behind.”

President Erdogan also claimed that efforts are being made to ignite the fire in neighboring Syria in Turkey and called on the opposition “to act responsibly in such a matter,” saying that “playing politics by provoking our Alawite brothers is an attempt at sabotage.” It will be recalled that there is a very large Alevi community in Turkey, which in its modern history has been the target of two major pogroms in 1978 in Kahramanmara province and in 1993 in Sebasteia.

“While Turkey is trying to get rid of a scourge it has been suffering for 40 years,” said Tayyip Erdogan, also referring to the Kurdish issue and the clashes with the PKK, and stressed how “the creation of new dividing lines will benefit no one but the enemies of the country.”

Concluding his report regarding developments in Syria, President Erdogan said: “As a nation, we will not allow a rift on our internal front. We will not allow the game that has been played around us for years to be played as it has been played for 14 years (since the start of the civil war in Syria). We will continue to provide all possible support to protect the territorial integrity of Syria. Just as we did not allow “surgical operations” on the territory of our country, we will never consent to the “land occupation” of Syria.”