Last Saturday Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan made the following statement.
We don’t see the subject of Syria as an external matter, as an external problem. For us Syria is a domestic matter. Because we have an 850 km border with Syria; we have family, historic and cultural ties.
“... biz Suriye konusunu bir dış mesele olarak, bir dış sorun olarak görmüyoruz. Suriye meselesi bizim bir iç meselemizdir. Çünkü bizim Suriye ile 850 kilometre sınırımız var, akrabalık, tarih, kültür bağlarımız var.”
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On Sunday Gen. Ali Habib Mahmoud, Syria’s Minister of Defense, was removed from his post. According to official Syrian sources the general, who was 72 years old, was removed from office due to ill-health.
On Monday morning it was reported that Gen. Ali Habib had died of natural causes.
There are rumors that the general was removed from office because he was opposed to heavy military actions in Hama. There are also rumors that he was shot and killed at his home early Monday morning.
General Dawoud Rajiha, a Greek Orthodox Christian, has been appointed to be the Minister of Defense. He had been the Syrian Army Chief of Staff for two years.
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Yesterday Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu, had a six hour meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
Before the meeting tensions between Turkey and Syria were high – with Turkish officials stating they would put heavy pressure on the Syrian government, and the Syrian government stating that Turkey had no right to interfere in its affairs and that any pressure put on it by Turkey would be reciprocated.
However, the meeting is reported to have been cordial.
FM Davutoğlu has stated that Turkish objective is bloodless political reform and Syrian officials have stated that they are fighting against armed groups who are attacking the Syrian military and government.
It is being reported that the Turkish Ambassador to Syria has been to Hama today and he reports that heavy Syrian military equipment has been withdrawn from the city.
It is also being reported that the Ambassador and a group of Turkish and foreign journalists will go to Hama in the next few days and then possibly to Deir ez Zor.
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The Turkish stock market has lost 20% (or more) of its value in the past week. The drop in Turkey started before the drop in world markets due to problems emerging in the Turkish economy.
The Turkish Lira has lost 15% of its value this summer.
The Turkish Balance of Trade deficit so far this year is $55 billion (about 7.5% of GDP) and is expected to be $80 billion (more than 10% of GDP) or more this year.