Assad out of touch, Erdogan suggests

ANKARA, Turkey, May 13 (UPI) -- Damascus can no longer deny the Syrian people's request for democracy, the Turkish prime minister said Friday.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is facing mounting international and domestic pressure on his regime. Human rights activists put the death toll from Syrian violence at close to 850. Damascus is accused of sending the military to respond to widespread protests though the regime attributes the violence to insurgents.

Assad is said to have urged restraint and last month enacted a series of reforms meant to address protester concerns. Washington said that the escalation of violence, however, showed Assad wasn't serious about reforms.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a close ally to Assad, told American broadcaster PBS from Ankara that democratic reform movements sweeping across the Middle East are "irreversible and "indispensable requests for peace and democracy" can't be ignored.

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said international pressure on Damascus means the "window is narrowing" for Assad.

European lawmakers complained this week that Assad was left off a list of individuals sanctioned by the European Union. Toner added that there were "other options" on the table.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/05/13/Assad-out-of-touch-Erdogan-suggests/UPI-24871305308197/.