Lukashevich: Militarization of Turkish-Syrian Border Alarm signal

 MOSCOW, (ST) _ “Militarization of the Turkish-Syrian border is an alarm signal. We advise our Turkish colleagues to use their potential to influence the Syrian opposition to start the dialogue inside Syria,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich said.

 Lukashevich, in a press briefing here Thursday, underscored that  the ministry would refrain from commenting further until Russia’s NATO partners reached a decision.

Instead of “flexing muscles and placing the situation on a dangerous course, Turkey should use its influence with the opposition groups to help the two sides in the Syrian conflict start a dialogue as soon as possible.” Added Lukashevich .

    “Such steps clearly do not add optimism from the point of view of a political settlement,” Lukashevich stressed.

 Ryabkov:  Militarization of Turkish Border with Syria Escalates Tension

 ” We believe that the Syrian-Turkish border becomes less quieter and this is due to a large number of factors, and the main one is the lack of political will in many countries to ensure the optimum conditions for a political solution to the situation in Syria,”  said the Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov in statements to press men on Wednesday evening in Brussels.

 Warning against the militarization of the borders between Syria and Turkey, the Russian official added that this will lead to the escalation of tension on the border.

  He reiterated the call on these countries to find a political solution and not to “reflect the military muscle” in an attempt to change the situation to their advantage through military means.

 Commenting on Turkey’s request from NATO to obtain ” Patriot” missile systems and  deploy  it  on the border with Syria, he pointed out that Turkey  should check the reactions of Turkey ‘s  allies in NATO , which announced that they  had  received the Turkish request and promised to consider it ” without delay”.

T. Fateh