Turkey accused its neighbours today of hushing up outbreaks of bird flu, complicating the fight against a virus that has killed four Turkish children.
"It is unofficially known that this illness exists in our neighbouring countries which are ruled by closed regimes, but these countries do not declare this because of their systems," Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker told a news conference.
He did not name the countries he had in mind, but Iran and Syria are two likely targets of the criticism.
Syria has asked the United Nations for help and will tighten surveillance along its border with Turkey, a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) official said.
Juan Lubroth, senior FAO animal health officer, said he did not consider Syria's unusual request for assistance to be confirmation that the country had a bird flu problem.
"It means that they want to get prepared to maybe diagnose it if it were to come in soon," Mr Lubroth said.
"We will be fielding a team there with the WHO (World Health Organisation) in the next week or so."
The WHO said it was sending teams of experts to Syria, Iran, Iraq, as well as Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The outbreak in Turkey is the first among people outside East Asia. The epicentre of Turkey's outbreak is in the east of the country bordering Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Armenia.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed at least 80 people since late 2003. Victims contract the virus through close contact with sick birds, but there are fears it could mutate into a form that can pass easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic.