Erdogan says U.N. must decide on any Syria no-fly zone

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it would be up to the United Nations Security Council to decide whether to establish a no-fly zone inside Syria, Reuters reported.

“It is not a decision that could be taken between the United States and Turkey. It is something that would have to come through the U.N. Security Council,” Erdogan said in a discussion at the Brookings Institution.

The Turkish prime minister is in the United States and just yesterday held talks with the U.S. President Barack Obama on Syria.
Erdogan said the U.S. and Turkey have overlapping goals when it comes to Syria and they both agree that violence in the war-torn country should come to an end.

The U.S. president said that the only way to resolve the crisis is for Assad to hand over power to a transitional government, adding that Turkey will play a critical role in that process.

“We’re going to keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working with the Syrian opposition,” Obama said during a news conference with Erdogan in the White House Rose Garden.