Sinan Ogan: Turkey will not fight Syria

Yesterday in shelling in the Turkish town of Akcakale on the border with Syria, a family of five people died and ten civilians were wounded. An MP from the Turkish Nationalist Party, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies (TURKSAM) Sinan Ogan, said in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza that such incidents have occurred several times in the past.

Ogan stressed that the Turkish people do not want to interfere in the war in Syria, but that the patience of Turkey has come to an end. Even though the Turkish parliament today issued a mandate to strike back at the Turkish armed forces, Ogan believes that Turkey is not going to enter into a full-scale war with Syria. Ogan noted that most probably it will conduct an operation similar to the one held in northern Iraq.

Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, said today that Turkey is not interested in waging a war against Syria, but we will defend its borders. He affirmed that Turkey will continue political and diplomatic initiatives to resolve the situation peacefully.

Syrian Information Minister Omran Zaobi has already expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and the "friendly people of Turkey."