ANKARA, Oct 4 (KUNA) -- Turkey said Tuesday it would carry out military exercises near the borders with Syria tomorrow at a time Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be visiting the camps of Syrian refugees later on this week.
Turkish land forces will be conducting the drills in the southern Antakya province to test readiness of reserve forces, the army command said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 39th Mechanised Infantry Brigade and the reserve squad will take part in the drills which would last until October 13, it added. These are the first of a kind exercise carried out by the Turkish army near the Syrian borders.
The drills will be held as Erdogan announced he would be visiting the Syrian refugees' camp in Antakya, estimated at 7,000 people, by end of this week to get acquainted with their living conditions.
Relations between Ankara and Damascus are tense because of the protests in Syrian cities. The protests forced thousands of Syrians to flee to Turkey.
Turkey warned its southern neighbor that the way it was handling the protests would spark chaos in the region.Turkey had already banned weapons' exports to Syria and is currently coordinating with the US to impose penalties on the government in Damascus.
Kuwait Agency
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