"It is important that necessary steps are taken rapidly and in a determined way in order to establish social peace and stability in brotherly, friendly Syria, to put an end to the violence and to maintain security of life, basic rights and freedoms," the council announced.  Also, the head of Turkey's national intelligence agency, the MIT, traveled to Damascus on Thursday for high-level talks.  The wave of unrest that has swept across the Arab world this year surprised the Turkish government as it was dramatically expanding ties with its Arab neighbors.  Syria has perhaps been the greatest beneficiary of what the Turkish government calls its "Zero Problems" foreign policy initiative with Turkey's neighbors.  In the late 1990s, Syria and Turkey were on the brink of war because of Syrian support for Kurdish rebels battling the Turkish state.  But in recent years, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have become close political allies.  The two leaders have vacationed together with their wives along the Turkish coast. And last year, Erdogan lifted visa restrictions on Syrian visitors and announced Syrians should treat Turkey as their "second home."  When pro-democracy protests erupted in Egypt, Erdogan was swift to call for embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to listen to the voices of his people and step down.  But Erdogan has been much more restrained about criticizing al-Assad, even as Syrian tanks encircled the rebellious southern town of Daraa and more than 400 demonstrators were killed across the country in the growing government crackdown.  "Turkey has to reckon that in some cases of the Arab Spring, it just may be on the wrong side of history," wrote Turkey expert Henri Barkey, in an article released this week by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace.
Turkish officials engaged in last-minute shuttle diplomacy with their restive neighbor Syria and repeated calls for restraint ahead of what is expected to be another violent day of protests across