Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he's lost confidence in Syria and the Arab League announced that it was sending its chief to press for an end to the bloodshed, intensifying regional pressure on the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
"In today's world there is no place for authoritarian rule, one-party governments and closed regimes," Gul said in an interview with Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency. "These will either be changed by force or by the initiative of those who rule." Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, called on Syria to recognize the "legitimate aspirations toward political, economic and social reforms by the Syrian people" and said they were sending Nabil El Arabi to Syria. The statement gave no date for the visit.
Syrian security forces killed at least six more protesters in overnight violence, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. President Assad's forces attacked demonstrators in suburbs of the capital, Damascus, in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, in the central city of Homs and in Nawa, according to Merhi and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria.
International pressure has been mounting for an end to more than five months of violence. U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month joined the leaders of the U.K., France, and Germany in calling for Assad to step down. The protests that began in mid-March are part of the wave of unrest across the Middle East and North Africa this year that has unseated the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the regime of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya.
Daily Reports
Gul said he was receiving detailed daily intelligence reports on the shootings of protesters in neighboring Syria.
"Today how many will it be?" he asked. "We've lost our confidence."
Turkey's $740 billion economy is the largest among Syria's neighbors. Relations with Syria have deepened since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002. The two countries have dropped visa requirements and in 2009 started joint military training exercises.
Turkish exports to Syria have increased to more than to $1.8 billion in 2010 from $267 million in 2002.
Muscle-Flexing
"Turkish intervention, whether that's muscle-flexing on the border or economic sanctions, would be really, really important, but I don't see that yet," said Shashank Joshi of the Royal United Services Institute in London. "I don't see them having completely made up their minds that Assad should go."
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi yesterday called on Assad to "pay heed to the legitimate demands of his people" and warned that a potential power vacuum in Damascus "would bring about unpredictable consequences" for the region, according to the Iranian state-run news agency, ISNA. Salehi also warned against "foreign meddling" in Syria and said Assad should be supported.
"What's interesting now is that the state-controlled press in Iran is being allowed to criticize Iran openly," Joshi said by telephone. "Iran is supporting Syria now and wishes it to survive, but this shows it knows that it thinks its survival is now in question."
Between Aug. 19 and Aug. 25 at least 96 people were killed by government forces, according to Qurabi, who compiles the names of those who have died in the uprising. At least 2,400 people have been killed in Syria since the protests started, according to Merhi and Qurabi. The UN puts the death toll at more than 2,200. More than 500 members of the security forces have died, the government has said.
Foreign Conspiracy
Assad has blamed the dissent on a foreign conspiracy, while saying protesters' demands "have merit" and that changes are needed.
In New York, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters two days ago that a "very important envoy from Moscow" will travel to Damascus on Aug. 29. The Russian mission to the UN later identified the envoy as Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Churkin also introduced a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that "calls on the Syrian government to expedite the implementation of the announced reforms in order to effectively address the legitimate aspirations and concerns" of Syria's people.
The Russian move followed the introduction last week of a U.S. and European draft resolution that would freeze the foreign assets of Assad, his brother Maher, who commands a Syrian army division, and 21 other senior government officials. That resolution would also impose an arms embargo on Syria.
Russia and China boycotted two Security Council meetings to discuss the resolution, to which Churkin said his government had a "strongly negative" reaction.
--With assistance from Bill Varner and Flavia Krause-Jackson at the United Nations, Massoud Derhally in Beirut, Nadeem Hamid in Washington, Dahlia Kholaif in Kuwait and Vivian Salama in Dubai. Editors: Louis Meixler, Digby Lidstone, James Gomez.