Turkey Syria relations take another hit as Syrian forces fired across the Turkey Syria border at a refugee camp on Turkish turf, wounding two Syrians and a Turkish translator. Syria News

Gaziantep / NationalTurk – Turkey Syria relations tense than ever ! Syria Turkey tensions has escalated rockethigh along the Syrian-Turkey border, with anonymous gunfire from Syria injuring at least three people inside Turkish territory.

The gunfire accident makes the UN-brokered ceasefire due to take effect on Tuesday look shaky.

Two Syrian refugees and one Turkish translator were wounded in Monday’s incident when the Kilis border refugee camp in Gaziantep province in Turkey came under fire from the Syrian side of the border, a Turkish foreign ministry official stated.

Syria Turkey Relations hit rock bottom with latest gunfire on Turkey Syria border

The incident on Turkey Syria border occurred as reports indicated that Syrian government forces were trying to prevent refugees from entering Turkey.

Thousands of Syrian refugees found shelter in eight refugee camps set up in Turkey’s southern provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep, bordering Syria while others have crossed into Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, the other neighbouring countries of Syria.

According to a government official at Turkey’s foreign ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, shots fired from Syrian troops early Monday morning wounded men inside the perimeter of a Syrian refugee camp in Kilis, in Turkey’s southern border province of Gaziantep. Upon hearing the gun shots, some refugees broke out of the camp to run toward the border and support Syrian people trying to cross Syrian Turkish border, which prompted more firing, the ministry official stated. The Turkish foreign ministry summoned Syria’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara, demanding that Syrian soldiers immediately stop shooting across the Syria Turkey border.

Syria Protests : Chaotic scenes ensue, jump to Turkish Border

Turkey’s government confirmed that two people had been killed and at least 11 had been wounded in separate clashes around the Turkey Syria border area recently , while Syrian security forces closed roads leading to the Syrian refugee camp. Turkish television showed chaotic scenes of men ripping holes in the corrugated iron walls of the camp and running toward the border, while others clambered onto observation towers to try and survey the scene.

Private television channel NTV reported that Turkey’s deputy foreign minister declared that the Kofi Annan and United Nations-backed April 10 deadline for Syrian cease fire and Syria withdraws its forces from populated areas was now non bonding. The prospect of the Syria peace plan’s success was dealt a serious blow on Sunday when Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it wouldn’t withdraw troops from civilian areas unless all rebel groups provided written guarantees they would lay down their weapons.

Syrian Troops dare to fire at Turkish territory

The news that Syrian forces have fired on targets inside Turkish territory comes as Syrians have poured into Turkey in unprecedented numbers in recent days, with refugees and activists reporting relentless shelling and destruction of whole villages in Syria. The sharp rise in the number of Syrians seeking refuge inside Turkish territory, which suggests a rise in violence in some of the areas along the Turkey’s 910-kilomter border with Syria, prompted Ankara on Friday to make an urgent call to the United Nations. The number of Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey is now more than 24,000, the highest since the uprising against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad began more than a year ago.

Analysts indicate it was too early to judge the impact of the Syria Turkey border gunfire incident, but cautioned that it could represent a dangerous escalation of tensions and vindicate an increasingly hawkish policy from Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month that his government was considering, among other options, setting up a “safe” or “buffer” zone along the Turkish border with Syria. Ministers have repeatedly sought to stress that the prospect remains some way off.

But in recent days, Ankara has said the government could be forced to act to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the event of a flood of refugees, massacres of civilians by Syrian troops near its border or an incident creating a “risk to national security.” It hasn’t provided a number of refugees or a death toll that could trigger harsher steps. Fleeing Syrians have been mainly housed in Turkey’s southern provinces of Kilis, Gaziantep and Hatay. Ankara has ordered more accommodation constructed in Sanliurfa province.

Turkish ministers in recent days have publicly professed little faith that Damascus will hold to its pledge to enact a full cease fire by April 10, as part of the six-point international peace plan brokered last week by diplomat Kofi Annan, a joint envoy of the U.N. and the Arab League. Such skepticism, widely shared by Mr. Assad’s international opponents, has appeared to be borne out by the reports of clashes in recent days.

Turkey warns : Syria uprising may not spill onto Turkish soil

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on last Friday stated Ankara was ‘ very concerned’ about recent developments and called on the international community to take “solid steps” to prevent attacks on civilians. “If the number of Syrian immigrants continues to increase, then the U.N. and some other countries should also step in,” he told reporters in Ankara.

Monday’s incidents will likely underline the Turkish government’s concern that Syria’s bloody uprising and protests could increasingly spill onto Turkish territory.

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