Turkey has resurrected the prospect of western military intervention in the Syrian crisis, threatening to invoke NATO'S self-defence mechanisms over violations of its territory by Assad regime troops.
Dozens of civilians were wounded during clashes between Syrian security forces and rebel fighters between Salama border gate and the Syrian town of Azaz Photo: REUTERS/Hasan Ozkal
By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent
11:42AM BST 13 Apr 2012
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, repeated calls for United Nations action against Syria, and went on to refer to Article 5 of the Nato treaty. That calls an attack on one Nato member like Turkey an attack on all members.
Invoking the treaty would allow Nato members to take military action against Syria legally without a UN security council resolution. Article 5 has only been invoked on one previous occasion – in the action taken against Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks.
"Options are plentiful," he said, referring to shooting incidents on the Turkish-Syrian border which sent bullets spraying into refugee camps on three consecutive days earlier this week and killed four Syrians. A Turkish official and interpreter were also injured.
"Nato also has duties regarding Turkey's borders, according to the fifth article," he added.
For Nato to take action after a relatively minor border incident would be unprecedented. But the threat to invoke the treaty's legal cover will alarm the Assad regime, which has so far been confident that there is little the West can do to harm it so long as China and Russia continue to exercise their veto.
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It is more likely that Turkey will use the violations as a reason to set up a secure or buffer zone for Syrian refugees, guarded by the Turkish army.
That could then become a route for supplying the rebels.
Other possible "next steps" include a further tightening of sanctions against the Assad regime, and a new security council resolution to refer the regime to the International Criminal Court – daring China and Russia to use their veto for the third time in the crisis.
Mr Erdogan is pressing both countries to change their stance, and suggested the Beijing might already be doing so. "I told them (their) attitude would not be so easy after this point," he said. "They did not say 'no'."
Mr Erdogan will continue to press the case for action when he travels on to Saudi Arabia for meetings on Friday. Saudi Arabia has demanded that the rebels be allowed to arm themselves – though has so far failed to provide arms itself, or the money to do so.
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