Turkey’s Prime Minister hinted that Ankara could impose additional sanctions on neighboring Syria in line with developments in the Arab republic, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“Syria is heading through a religious, sectarian and racist-based civil war. Turkey has to play a prominent role in stopping this. If a civil war erupts in the country, it will put Turkey into unease,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart.

Erdoğan said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime had killed nearly 7,000 Syrians since protests began in March. “No government in the world can applaud such an authoritarian, dictatorial regime.”

Noting that Turkey was hosting nearly 9,000 Syrians who had escaped from Syrian forces, Erdoğan said this number would increase if Damascus did not block those trying to flee the country.