Turkey's president says civil war is not something that anyone would want to see happen in Syria

LONDON (A.A) - November 22, 2011 - Turkey's president said on Tuesday that civil war was not something that anyone would want to see happen in Syria. President Abdullah Gul defined a possible civil war in Syria as very dangerous, and said everything must be done to prevent it. "Civil war is not something that anyone would want to see happen," Gul told the British "Guardian" newspaper in an exclusive interview. Gul is paying a formal visit to Britain. President Gul said Syria's crisis was now at a dead end and so change was inevitable. "Syria's President, Bashar al-Assad, can no longer be trusted after an eight-month uprising in which thousands have been killed," he said. Gul declined to comment directly on reports that Turkey was getting prepared to establish a buffer zone along the Syrian border. Creating a haven for armed groups was out of the question, Gul said, although Ankara would continue to offer a "democratic platform" for Syrian opposition organisations. "Syria is now at a dead end so change is inevitable," Gul said. "But we don't believe the right way to create change is through external intervention. The people must make that change. Civil war is not something that anyone would want to see happen. Everything must be done to prevent it. It is very dangerous." The Turkish president said he had spoken to Assad regularly until a few months ago and had advised him to allow free elections, release political prisoners and announce a clear timetable for reforms. "It's quite too late for that sort of thing now," he said. "He seems to have opted for a different route. And frankly we do not have any more trust in him," Gul said. Gul said Turkey now was a source of inspiration to many of those countries. On Iran, Gul said, "it is important to put oneself in their shoes and see how they (the Iranians) perceive threats. There are different groups and concentrations of power in Iran. You can't see them as one single authority. For the sake of peace it is very important that the dialogue between Iran and the west progresses in a more frank and transparent way. When I say transparent I mean Iran, and when I say frank I mean the west." The newspaper wrote that Turkey was opposed to military options for dealing with the issue. Moreover, Gul commented on relations with the European Union (EU), and said Turkey was determined to pursue membership, and the issue went beyond political parties. Gul said Britain and Turkey agreed on the euro zone crisis, and if Turkey had already joined the EU, its position would have been exactly the same as Great Britain. In the interview, Gul complained that "terrorist groups" had been trying to sabotage the process of reform. The Guardian wrote that Syria had in the past harboured PKK fighters and occasionally hinted that it might revive that support. Cross-border raids might be necessary if there were attacks from safe havens, Gul said, but added: "I don't think the Syrian government would make that kind of mistake."