Kurdish leader praises Turkey's role in helping Aleppo

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq

Erfan Ali Abdulaziz, leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement Party in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, has praised Turkey’s role in helping civilians of Syria’s Aleppo.

"We are saddened and concerned about the disaster taking place in Aleppo," Abdulaziz told Anadolu Agency in an interview published Thursday.

"Many countries should rush to help [the people of] Aleppo as the Turkish government did," he said, urging international relief organizations to follow suit.

He also voiced concern that the war-weary city may soon be subject to dramatic demographic changes.

"Big changes will soon take place in Aleppo. The city’s inhabitants are currently leaving their homes and vacating the region," Abdulaziz said.

"People from other regions will be brought to the city to settle," he warned. "This is a serious threat."

In a deal brokered by Turkey and Russia last week, armed opposition groups and the Syrian regime agreed to allow civilians to be evacuated from eastern Aleppo to the nearby opposition-held Idlib province.

*Reporting by Idris Okuducu; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat