Jisr-Al-Shogour:Turkey ruling party eyes victory in Sunday vote

Erdogan was shown in a German news cast. Erdogan said he phoned Assad. Erdogan said that Assad doesnt take the situation seriously.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110610/ts_nm/us_syria_turkey_1

GUVECCI, Turkey (Reuters) – More than 3,000 Syrians have fled into Turkey to escape a military crackdown and authorities are preparing to open a third camp to shelter thousands more, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.
New arrivals mounted as the Syrian army swept into a town near the border where clashes raged earlier in the week and began to arrest what state television described as armed opponents.
"Overall arrival numbers are quickly increasing," said Metin Corabatir, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
He said more than 3,000 people had registered with the Turkish government and he expected many more to come.
A leading newspaper, Hurriyet, said Turkish officials were considering drastic contingency plans. "Foreign Ministry officials said that among scenarios that had been discussed was the creation of a buffer zone if hundreds of thousands want to seek refuge in Turkey," it reported.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110609/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_elections_1

ANKARA, Turkey – Such is the confidence of Turkey's ruling party ahead of elections Sunday that its campaign posters show the prime minister, eyes raised skyward, next to slogans referring to the centenary of the Turkish republic, still more than a decade away.
"Turkey is ready, the goal is 2023," the billboards proclaim.
Never mind that another election victory would mean a third consecutive term of just five years in power. The government is thinking big, setting a long-term deadline for a raft of ambitious policy goals.
It's an attitude that has carried Turkey, a NATO ally with a mostly Muslim population, far in the past decade, raising its diplomatic profile in a conflict-prone region, boosting economic growth and invigorating its democratic credentials after years in the political shadow of the military.
Yet the prospect of another resounding victory for the headstrong prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, coupled with allegations that an autocratic streak is creeping into his leadership, have fed concerns that the government's consolidation of power is undermining vows to strengthen Turkish democracy.