Turkey's deputy premier says Syria should end violence against its people

ANKARA (A.A) - February 8, 2012 - Turkey's deputy prime minister said on Wednesday that Syria should end violence against its own people as soon as possible. Bulent Arinc said international community should reach a consensus. "Unfortunately, right to veto in the UN Security Council is used in a very unjust and baseless way," Arinc told representatives of newspapers and TV channels and Anadolu Agency's (AA) local and abroad representatives at the AA Editor Desk in Ankara. Arinc said Turkey had never wanted to see such sorrowful incidents in Syria, and therefore was trying to persuade the Syrian administration since last March. The deputy premier said that it was so wrong for Russia and China to veto a resolution regarding Syria at the UN Security Council, and noted that it was also wrong for pro-al-Assad groups to welcome Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as a hero in Syria on Tuesday.  Arinc said the UN should review the rights and authorities and find a remedy, otherwise all efforts would be in vain when a few countries vetoed resolutions in case of such incidents that resembled massacre.  "If soldiers and tanks are withdrawn, massacre is ended, measures are taken not to negatively affect the nation's daily life and daily life is normalized at a certain extent, then we may have an idea about sincerity of upcoming steps," Arinc said. Arinc said everyone could see that Syria was heading towards a division, a sectarian clash and a chaos. "We find Russia's initiatives at the Security Council and visit to Syria to support the administration as wrong. We are sensitive because we are living in the same geography, we have kinsmen there, and the security in our south is threatened," Arinc said. Arinc hoped that Turkish-Russian relations would not be affected by such things, adding that Turkey wanted every country to react to any injustice or oppression.