With U.N. weapons inspectors on the ground in Syria, the government won rare praise from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry who said efforts to eliminate chemical weapons are off to a good start and the Assad regime deserves credit.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan calls any praise of Bashar al-Assad's government inappropriate.
(SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE HOTEL, SAYING:
"How can we praise the behavior of somebody who has killed 110,000 people? Can this be reasonable, I am asking you? No matter what kind of weapons he used, chemical or not, his actions culminated in death. So how can we praise him? I cannot imagine a human being who can praise Assad. I don't think Kerry would have made such a statement. If he did, he would contradict himself."
The presence of the weapons inspectors has done little to curb the violence on the ground.
Amateur video which can not be independently verified
