Erdogan blames Syria for deadly bombings

Turkey’s prime minister said Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is “hopefully nearing its end” and will pave the way for refugees to return home.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was speaking Saturday in Reyhanli, the town on the Syrian border which was hit by two car bombings on May 11, killing 51 people.

Turkey blames Syria for the bombings, but Damascus denies it had anything to do with the blasts.

Addressing Assad, Erdogan says those “who are trying to disturb the peace in Turkey are the ones who are trying to maintain their dictatorship.”

The Turkish prime minster said his government had forged close ties with Damascus through mutual agreements, but that “these agreements have been disregarded and the bonds of brotherhood between us have been trampled on. By whom? By the dictator Assad,” according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Erdogan also urged the people of Reyhanli not to allow friction to develop between themselves and the influx of refugees.

He says the refugees would return to their country after the fall of the “cruel Assad’s dictatorship.”