Turkey expects formal apology from Syria after embassy attack

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said Monday that Turkey expected a formal apology from Syria after an attack on its embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Turkey has notified Syria through diplomatic channels that it was expecting a formal apology from Syria after an attack on the Turkish embassy in Damascus, Arinc, also the government spokesperson, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Anatolia news agency. "I will tell what we will do unless a formal apology comes from Syria," Arinc told reporters after a cabinet meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a booklet regarding its foreign policy for 2012 released on Monday that Turkey did not have any possibility to trust the Syrian administration as the latter had not taken necessary steps to meet people's demands. "It is trying to press these demands with gun force, and Turkey does not have the opportunity to trust the Syrian administration in this case," the ministry said. The ministry said Turkey was standing by the Syrian people, and underlined the importance of preventing a religious, sectarian or ethnical-based civil war in Syria. The ministry defined the Arab League's step to suspend Syria's membership as an appropriate step, saying that Turkey would continue to monitor the developments and keep in coordination with the concerned parties. "In this context, we continue our contacts with Syrian opponent groups without any discrimination among them in regard to political, ethnical, religious or sectarian characteristics," it said. The ministry also said Turkey's doors were open to anybody who would have to cross into Turkey due to the incidents in Syria.