Turkey has suggested that it would invade Syria to end the regime of Assad.

ANKARA — Turkey has suggested that it would invade Syria to end the
regime of President Bashar Assad.

For the first time, Turkey has warned of what its president termed a
“worst-case scenario” in Syria. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Ankara
would continue to attack Syria to protect against shelling and other
operations against Turkey.

“The worst-case scenarios are taking place right now in Syria,” Gul said on Oct. 8. “Our government is in constant consultation with the Turkish military. Whatever is needed is being done immediately as you see, and it will continue to be done.”

The Turkish warning came as its military sustained artillery and mortar strikes on Syrian Army positions along the 900-kilometer border. Gul said the civil war in Syria could not be maintained indefinitely and expressed determination that Assad must leave.

“There will be a change, a transition sooner or later,” Gul said. “It is
a must for the international community to take effective action before Syria turns into a bigger wreck and further blood is shed, that is our main wish.”

Ankara has been shelling Syrian Army positions as Assad
forces attacked Sunni rebels along the northeastern border with Turkey.
Officials said the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has ordered
the Turkish military to retaliate for any shell fired from Syria.

On late Oct. 8, the Turkish Air Force was said to have deployed at least
25 additional F-16 fighter-jets at a base near Syria. Turkey’s Dogan News
Agency said the U.S.-origin F-16s arrived at the Diyarbakir air base as the
Turkish Army reinforced troops along the Syrian border.

Officials said Turkey has been urging NATO and the United States to
topple the Assad regime. They said Ankara, which hosts the Syrian
opposition, has already proposed former Syrian Vice President Farouq
A-Shaara as an interim successor to Assad.

“Farouq A-Shaara has the ability to understand the system of the last
20-30 years,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “Farouq
A-Shaara did not get involved in the recent incidents, the massacre, in a
very wise and conscientious attitude. But perhaps there is nobody who knows
the system better than A-Shaara.”

So far, NATO has rejected Turkish appeals for help against Syria. On
Oct. 9, NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen disclosed a plan to
help Ankara in any war against the Assad regime.

“We have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if
necessary,” Rasmussen said before an emergency meeting of NATO defense
ministers.

World Tribune