Washington: United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon on Thursday (4 October) voiced his alarm at escalating tensions along the
Syrian-Turkish border, and called on all concerned to exercise maximum
restraint.
According to media reports at least six
Turkish civilians were killed Wednesday after mortar fire from Syria hit the
town of Akcakale in Turkey's Sanliurfa province, which shares a border with
Syria.
Turkey's parliament yesterday authorized further military action against Syria,
as Turkey began its second day of shelling targets within Syria in response to
yesterday's incident, according to media reports.
In a statement read out at the daily press
briefing at UN headquarters, Ban's spokesman said the Secretary-General had
"repeatedly made clear his concern about the spillover of the Syrian
crisis into neighbouring countries, as occurred yesterday with Turkey".
He noted that "as the situation inside
Syria deteriorates yet further – including the atrocious terrorist bombings in
Aleppo this week which killed dozens of people including civilians – the risks
of regional conflict and the threat to international peace and security are
also increasing".
The spokesman said Ban called on "on
all concerned to abandon the use of violence, exercise maximum restraint and
exert all efforts to move toward a political solution".
Meanwhile, the Syrian Ambassador to the UN,
Bashar Ja'afari told reporters at UN headquarters he had submitted a letter to
the UN Security Council offering Syria's condolences for the deaths resulting
from mortar fire into Turkey and saying that an investigation was underway.
However, his government also wanted to
"explain" to the Turkish people that the Turkish government's
policies towards Syria were "wrong, and have been wrong since the
beginning of the crisis".
He called for Turkey and other neighbouring
countries to "show responsibility" in preventing terrorist groups
from entering Syria.
The Security Council was not able to agree
on a draft statement, tabled by Azerbaijan Wednesday, condemning the mortar
fire from Syria into Turkey, according to Rice. She said amendments circulated
today by Russia were "not acceptable" to several members and
negotiations would continue.
She stressed that there were already
"broader ramifications for the security of the region and potentially also
for international peace and security" from the Syrian conflict, and the
conflict was therefore "squarely in the wheelhouse of the Security Council
and deserves appropriate and meaningful action."
More than 18,000 people, mostly civilians,
have died in Syria since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar
al-Assad began last year. A further 2.5 million Syrians urgently need
humanitarian aid, according to UN estimates.