Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr warned Thursday against the Syrian conflict spreading after a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory killed five civilians in a Turkish border village on Wednesday, prompting Turkey to fire on targets in Syria.
In a press statement, Amr called for the Syrian government to ensure that there is no encroachment on the borders of neighboring countries.
“There would be serious risks involving the whole region if the Syrian crisis expands,” he said, expressing his condolences to the Turkish people for the victims of the border incident.
Amr denied the allegations of Egypt’s intention to send troops to Syria on Wednesday in a statement to state-run news service MENA on the sidelines of the Arab-Latin American Summit in Peru.
He stressed “Egypt’s continued efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria,” adding that Egypt holds the Syrian government responsible for stopping the bloodshed and the cycle of violence, and preventing the expansion of the conflict.
According to Amr, the working group of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt has agreed that change in Syria is inevitable, but disagrees about how it should come about.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement Wednesday that NATO countries will hold an urgent meeting following the Syrian assault on Turkish soil and the Turkish response.
Erdogan said that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen about the emergency meeting.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
