Turkey Calls for Extraordinary UN General Assembly Meeting on Aleppo

Rasa - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a phone call to newly-elected UN Secretary-General António Guterres suggested to summon a UN General Assembly extraordinary meeting on Aleppo, Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday referring to a source in Erdoğan's administration.

News ID: 425781

Date: 14 December 2016 - 23:49

RNA - The Turkish president noted significance of effective UN steps concerning the situation in Syria and drove attention to the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Sputnik reported.

The president of Turkey said that it is very important to improve the situation in the city and added that Ankara makes efforts in this direction, which includes reaching an agreement on the partial ceasefire.

Erdogan said that at the moment issues of civilian evacuation and opposition fighters evacuation from Aleppo as well as bringing humanitarian aid to the city are the main priorities. In his turn, Guterres praised Turkish support of Syrian and Iraqi refugees and noted that the world should not stay indifferent to the Aleppo issue.

Over the recent months, Aleppo became a major battleground in Syria between government forces and militants. On Tuesday, the Russian reconciliation center said that the Syrian government army was controlling over 98 percent of the territory of Aleppo, with militants present in less than 3 square kilometers (1.1 square mile).

Syria has been in a state of war since 2011, with government forces fighting Syrian opposition groups striving to overthrow the president. Damascus is also fighting numerous extremist and terrorist groups such as the Jabhat Fatah al Sham and Daesh. According to the United Nations, at least 300,000 Syrians have died since the beginning of the conflict.

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