ANKARA
Turkey's foreign ministry spokesman has said the six-point plan promoted by UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan could not be fully implemented unless the Syrian administration stopped its armed acts and operations.
Spokesperson Selcuk Unal of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on a series of regional and international matters during a press briefing at the ministry headquarters in capital Ankara on Thursday.
Regarding the latest situation in Syria, the spokesperson said Annan plan consisted of six conditions and ceasefire was only one of them.
Pointing to the Syrian administration's responsibilities such as respecting the right to demonstrate peacefully and ending use of weapons, Unal said both the UN head and special envoy Annan had repeatedly expressed that the points laid down in the plan had not been met entirely.
"Therefore, the main responsibility belongs to the Syrian administration. Unless the Syrian administration puts an end to its armed acts and operations, the Annan plan cannot be put into practice in the real sense," he said.
Upon a question on the possibility of invoking Article 5 of the NATO Charter in connection with the latest developments in Syria, Unal said it had been expressed that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks on the issue in a recent interview with an Italian newspaper had been misinterpreted.
Unal said Article 5 on self-defense could be used by any NATO member, adding that Turkey hoped for the bloodshed in Syria to stop and the instability not to deepen more.
"However, if such instability gets deeper, there are numerous alternatives ahead us. We need to determine such alternatives in accordance with the upcoming developments. As you know, Article 5 is about self-defense. Due to the incidents that took place at our borders in the past, a reference was made to this issue. This matter will remain on agenda and evaluations will continue," he said.
Commenting on the developments regarding the missing Turkish journalists in Syria as well, Unal said they were pleased to see the footage showing the journalists were safe and sound, adding that the Turkish foreign ministry displayed intense efforts to bring them back to Turkey.
