Some 320 deputies cast votes in favor of the motion, while 129 voted against it.

The Turkish Parliament debated a cross-border motion brought by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, daily Hürriyet has reported.

Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, said on his Twitter account  earlier that Turkey had no interest in a war with Syria but would protect its borders.

“Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria. But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary,” according to the post on twitter.

The authorization of foreign deployment came after Turkish troops renewed shelling on targets in Syria on Thursday morning in reprisal for cross-border fire that killed five Turkish civilians the previous day, a security source told AFP.

Turkey has demanded that the UN Security Council take action against Damascus after Wednesday’s attack, which saw mortar fire from Syria kill five Turkish nationals, including a mother and her three children in the town of Akcakale near the Syrian border.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his deepest concern at the incident. “The Secretary-General has repeatedly warned that the ongoing militarization of the conflict in Syria is leading to tragic results for the Syrian people,” the spokesperson said.

It is the first time that Turkish citizens have been killed as a result of fire from its war-torn neighbour, Syria, and led to a sharp escalation of tensions between the former allies.

Relations between Tureky and Syria had already deteriorated when in June Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet, killing both crewmen.

At the same time, NATO demanded an immediate halt to “aggressive acts” against alliance member Turkey on Wednesday after a Ambassadors from the alliance’s 28 member nations held an emergency late-night meeting at NATO headquarters, at Turkey’s request, to discuss the incident.

The shelling “constitutes a cause of greatest concern for, and is strongly condemned by, all allies”, the NATO ambassadors said in a statement.

“The alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law,” the statement added.

“The Secretary-General has repeatedly warned that the ongoing militarization of the conflict in Syria is leading to tragic results for the Syrian people,” the spokesperson said today.

“Today’s incidents, where firing from Syria struck a Turkish town, again demonstrated how Syria’s conflict is threatening not only the security of the Syrian people but increasingly causing harm to its neighbours,” he added.

According to media reports earlier Wednesday, several people, including a child, were killed and others seriously wounded after mortar fire from Syria hit the town of Akcakale in Turkey’s Sanliurfa province, which shares a border with Syria.

“The Secretary-General extends his sincere condolences to the Government and people of Turkey over this tragic loss of life,” the UN chief’s spokesperson said.

Within the Middle Eastern country, more than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began last year. A further 2.5 million Syrians urgently need humanitarian aid, according to UN estimates.

The spokesperson noted that Mr. Ban calls on the Syrian Government to respect fully the territorial integrity of its neighbours, as well as to end the violence against the Syrian people. “He calls on all parties to reduce tensions and to forge a path toward a peaceful resolution of the Syria crisis,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier today, the Secretary-General was contacted by telephone by Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoðlu. In addition to expressing his condolences at the “tragic loss of life” caused in the incident, Mr. Ban encouraged the Foreign Minister to keep open all channels of communication with the Syrian authorities with a view to lessening any tension that could build up as a result of the incident.

The spokesperson noted that the Foreign Minister had also spoken earlier to Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States on the Syrian crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi.

“These agreements provide vital elements in building a strong foundation for a stable and prosperous future between the two countries,” said a statement issued by Ban’s spokesperson.

The Secretary-General commended Presidents Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan and Salva Kiir of South Sudan “for demonstrating the statesmanship that made a comprehensive agreement possible, and for having once again chosen peace over war.”

South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July last year, six years after the signing of the peace agreement that ended decades of warfare between the north and the south. However, the peace between the two countries has been threatened in recent months by armed clashes along their common border and outstanding post-independence issues that have yet to be resolved.

The talks, held under the auspices of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, were designed to enable the two nations to fulfil their obligations under a so-called roadmap aimed at easing tensions, facilitating the resumption of negotiations on post-secession relations and normalizing the relations between the two countries.

Ban praised the “serious and constructive” participation, by both sides, in the talks, as well as the continuing leadership of the Panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki in facilitating and mediating the talks.

“The Secretary-General calls on both Governments to find solutions to the future of the disputed and claimed areas and the final status of Abyei,” the statement said. “He urges both countries to now embark on the implementation of the agreements they have signed and to finalize the processes they have initiated.”

A ministerial level meeting on Sudan and South Sudan was held at UN Headquarters in New York, on the margins of the General Debate of the 67th UN General Assembly.

“While the EU and Turkey have developed close cooperation on migration issues, which has led to some notable positive developments, the assistance offered to Turkey regarding migration management appears to focus largely on securitising the borders and decreasing irregular migration to the European common territory through focusing on the detention and removal of migrants in Turkey,” said the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, in a news release.

“Often neglected from this equation is an equivalent emphasis on the human rights of those most vulnerable and most affected by the migration process: the migrants themselves,” he added.

Crépeau, who just finished a five-day official visit to Turkey, noted that detention of migrants remains an issue of concern in the country, and that the Greek-Turkish border point remains one of the key passages of irregular migration in Europe.

“Despite the fact that Turkey is at the geostrategic juncture between Europe and Asia, the pressures on Turkish authorities to control irregular migration should not trump the human rights of migrants,” Mr. Crépeau said, noting that the EU’s focus on heightening border security has led to an increase in detention as a solution strategy for migration control, with more funding for new detention centres.

“The lack of safeguards for detainees in these centres is notable, and I insist that all centres of detention uphold human rights standards and organisations be provided full and free access to monitor them appropriately,” Crépeau said.

“I am further troubled about the detention of some vulnerable migrants in an irregular situation, including families and children,” he added, emphasizing that “alternatives to detention must always be explored.”

Mr. Crépeau’s visit to Turkey was the third stage of a special study on the management of the EU’s external borders. He visited Brussels in May, and Tunisia earlier in June. Later in the year he will visit the two main entry points into the EU, Greece and Italy. The Special Rapporteur will present a report on his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in June next year.

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.