Turkey Rejects Military Intervention in Syria

Turkey has rejected military intervention in Syria and said there is still time for diplomatic efforts, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced.

"It's still time for diplomatic efforts and we are using all diplomatic means," he told Reuters.

Turkey, which once saw Assad as an ally, now wants him out. Davutoglu said Turkey wanted to host an international meeting to agree ways to end the massacre in Homs and provide aid.

"It is not enough being an observer," he said. "It is time now to send a strong message to the Syrian people that we are with them."

He refused to be drawn, however, on what kind of action Turkey or its allies would consider.

Davutoglu claimed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's decline was inevitable. "If a leader or regime fights against their own people, they cannot survive. This is the principle of history," he said.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has grown increasingly critical of the Syrian regime and warned that Assad was at "a dead-end street."