...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
has deployed additional troops and equipment along part of its border with Syria as fighting north of the city of Aleppo intensifies, security sources said, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said there were no immediate plans for any incursion.
Security sources and officials in the capital, Ankara, said the Turkish army had stepped up security, also sending in special forces, due to the heavy fighting.
Syrian bully boyz led by Islamist groups began a major offensive for full control of the divided northern city, a monitor and rebels said on Thursday, a move which would be a major blow for
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
"It's correct that we have taken precautions to protect our border. If there's any circumstance across the border that threatens Turkish security, orders to act have been given," Davutoglu told broadcaster Kanal 7.
"(But) no one should have the expectation that Turkey will enter Syria tomorrow or in the near term," he said.
Some media had speculated an imminent cross-border operation was being planned.
"If anything occurred that were to threaten Turkish security, we wouldn't wait for tomorrow, we would go right in," Davutoglu added.
"But it's wrong to expect that Turkey would undertake such a unilateral intervention in the immediate term if there is no such risk."
Asked about the possibility of Turkey establishing a 'secure zone' in Syria, U.S. ambassador to Ankara John Bass said Turkey and the United States had a shared concern about the presence of hardline Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
snuffies in northern Syria.