Turkish FM urges UN to take action on Aleppo situation

By Nazli Yuzbasioglu

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday urged the United Nations General Assembly to hold a meeting on the Aleppo situation.

In his remarks to Turkish television TGRT, on recent developments in Syria, Cavusoglu said, “We are making an effort to secure cease-fire and resume negotiations on resolution across the country. We will keep our efforts in the forthcoming period.”

He heralded the tripartite meeting to be held by Turkey, Iran and Russia on this matter on Dec. 27.

Drawing on the violation of cease-fire in Aleppo by regime forces, he underlined the diplomatic efforts to avoid such massacre in the city.

“There is a tragedy, calamity in Aleppo. We urged the UN to assemble urgently on this issue. We should stop this and save people from that.”

Recent days have seen Assad regime forces reestablish control over parts of Aleppo captured four years ago by armed opposition groups.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which had erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the conflict and millions more displaced.