YALTA, Ukraine: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad was nearing its "inevitable" end despite violence threatening the entire region.

"Assad's regime is approaching its inevitable end," Erdogan said in comments translated into Russian at a conference in the Ukrainian Black Sea resort of Yalta.

Erdogan said his government was holding continuous contacts with the Syrian opposition in hopes of advancing a transition process that never materialised under former international mediator Kofi Annan.

"We must say 'no' to this human drama and not allow flames to engulf the whole region, so that the transition process could move more quickly ahead," the Turkish premier said.