- Al-Assad says his enemies want to "divide" the country
- The Turkish government harbors "animosity" toward Syria, he says
- Turkey and Syria have had bad relations during the uprising
- The death toll since last year surpasses 16,000, opposition group says
(CNN) -- The Syrian president says his country's opposition movement has failed to duplicate the kinds of mass protests that unfolded in other Arab nations.
"They wanted to bring people out into the streets in large numbers just like in Egypt and Tunisia," President Bashar al-Assad said in the latest installment of an interview published Thursday in the Turkish newspaper, Cumhuriyet. "However they were not successful."
Al-Assad said people were paid an initial equivalent of $10 to participate in the protests, with the amount going up to $50.
He said the protests started peacefully, but opposition forces "wanted to form liberated areas by arming certain regions, like the Benghazi model" in Libya.
"Our army did not allow this," he said. "Now they are at a new stage: assassinations, bombing state institutions, massacres targeting civilians and kidnappings have begun."
The city of Benghazi in eastern Libya was the base for rebels fighting the Moammar Gadhafi regime.
Al-Assad, who blames "terrorists" for the violence, said entities such as the United States and Turkey are helping the opposition.
"The arms that are coming from the other side have to be stopped immediately. Of course also the logistical support. The support that the international powers especially, starting with the United States, to the terrorists has to stop."
He cities the Turkish government's "animosity." Syria and Turkey have been at odds over al-Assad's crackdown.
Tensions have soared over Syria's shooting down of a Turkish jet last month, which al-Assad said he regretted, adding that soldiers thought the plane was from Israel.
"They are setting up camps on the border and taking people from here to there," he said. "The government is trying to use the existing crisis for its own interests.
He said the aim of his foes "is to divide Syria or to create internal war." As a result, the struggle against terrorism will continue."
Mass protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya last year led to the ousting of the leaders there.
The uprising in Syria began last year when the government cracked down on peaceful protests, a show of force that morphed into a nationwide uprising with a growing rebel movement.
Videos pouring out of the country have shown thousands of anti-government forces taking to the streets during the uprising.
One opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Wednesday that more than 16,700 have been killed in nearly 16 months of unrest. More than 11,000 of them are civilians.
Regime security forces have been roundly deplored across the globe for their brutality, with human rights groups and entities such as the United Nations documenting widespread abuses against civilians.
Human Rights Watch and entities such as the United Nations have documented government abuses toward civilians. Al-Assad was asked about U.N. Human Rights Council claims of crimes against humanity by members of his units.
"As you know, the majority of these institutions are under the influence of the American and western administrations," al-Assad said in the interview. "These reports are written as a result of international power balance. The aim is to increase pressure. They can say whatever they want we are right and we will not submit."
Pressed on whether his units committed abuses, he said, "well of course mistakes are always made" but said the government should not be blamed.
"Crimes are committed. If one group commits a crime, will the state be responsible for that?" he said. "These things happen everywhere in the world. Individual institutional crime is one thing, to blame the entire state is another thing."
World powers, working with U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, have been working to help foster a transition plan led by Syrians that would lead to peace. And Friends of Syria, a Western and Arab backed group that meets on Friday in Paris, is looking for ways to bring about change.
Al-Assad was asked if he would be elected if polls were held tomorrow.
"I cannot answer on behalf of my people. And I have not conducted a public poll. And what I do I'm not doing so that they elect me. What I do I'm doing because I believe in it."
He said he believes the "overwhelming majority" likes him.
CNN's Ivan Watson, Yesim Comert and Joe Sterling contributed to this report
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