Turkey imposes economic sanctions on Syria

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said President Bashar al-Assad's government had "come to the end of the road".

The Arab League announced sanctions on Sunday and the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation urged Syria to comply with the league and allow in observers, BBC News reports.

The UN says at least 3,500 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the protests.

Dubai earlier suggested that airlines from the United Arab Emirates would suspend flights to Syria next week.

The UAE's main airlines are Emirates and Etihad, and Dubai acts as a transport hub for the region.

The announcement later disappeared from the Dubai government's Twitter feed. It is not yet clear when the Arab League's ban on commercial flights will take effect.

Turkey's sanctions mostly target the Syrian leadership. The foreign minister said all those responsible for violence against civilians, and businesses close to President Assad, were banned from travelling to Turkey, and their assets there would be frozen.

All financial relations with Syrian state banks are also being stopped. A ban on arms sales is already in place.

Last week a convoy of Turkish buses was fired at by Syrian troops, and the government has warned all Turkish citizens to avoid travelling there.

Yesterday the foreign minister said Turkey did not support military action against Syria but did not rule out the possibility of a buffer zone on the border to contain any mass influx of refugees.

Turkey's transport minister said Ankara was looking at new transit routes to bypass Syria, should the situation there worsen. He said Turkey would open new border gates with Iraq, to enable trade with Saudi Arabia and Gulf states to go via Iraq and Jordan instead of Syria.

The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), the world's largest Islamic organisation, held emergency talks on Wednesday and later urged Damascus to "immediately stop using excessive force against civilians" and to "respond to the decisions of the Arab League".

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