Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey has no intention of going to war with Syria, hours after parliament authorised possible cross-border attacks.
"We have no intention of starting a war with Syria," Erdogan said at a press conference amid anger over Syrian shelling that killed five Turkish nationals in a border town on Wednesday.
But he noted that Turkey has the military might to protect its nationals and borders, if needed, saying: "No country should dare test our determination on that."
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His comments came as the Turkish military amassed tanks and anti aircraft missiles in Akcakale town, where the deadly incident took place on Wednesday.
It was not the first time Damascus had shelled Turkish territory and called it "an accident," said Erdogan, who claimed that Turkey was previously hit seven times by Syrian shelling.
"Even today we had a shell landing in Hatay city Altinozu district," he said.
"One time is an accident... but how is this an accident, when it happens eight times?"
Erdogan reiterated previous official remarks that the cross-border attack mandate was meant to serve as an "active deterrent" in the face of the escalating spillover of violence into Turkish territories.
"This mandate is not a war mandate, but it is in our hands to be used when need be in order to protect Turkey's own interests according to potential developments in the future," Erdogan's deputy Besir Atalay said earlier.
After UN mediation, Atalay said, the Damascus regime had admitted that it fired the shells that killed the civilians on Turkish soil, apologised for the incident and promised this would not happen again.
The parliament's green light for a possible Syria attack prompted peace demonstrations in several major Turkish cities.
Almost 1,000 mostly left-wing protesters gathered in Istanbul's iconic Taksim square Thursday evening, chanting slogans against the government for the mandate they branded a tool for "an imperialist war" against Syria.
The crowd held up banners that read "No to war!" and others that accused Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of being a United States "stooge."
A smaller crowd in Ankara was stopped by riot police earlier in the day as they tried to reach government offices to stage their protests. Police used pepper spray to disperse the protesters.
The motion, drafted hours after the Syrian shells landed in Akcakale, was passed by 320 votes in the 550-seat Turkish parliament in an urgent session held behind closed doors. 129 lawmakers voted against it.
Vetoes came from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which branded the motion "a war initiation", and from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
Syria's killing of five Turks -- two women and three children -- on Wednesday marked the first time that Turkish citizens had been killed by Syrian fire since the uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011.
An infuriated Ankara immediately retaliated by pounding unspecified Syrian targets, killing several Syrian soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which did not give an exact figure.
Turkey ceased firing early Thursday, but Turkish officials warned the shelling could resume "if needed."
Turkey has also demanded that the UN Security Council take action against Damascus over Wednesday's cross-border fire, which drew sharp Western condemnation.
