People of Aleppo subject to genocide: Turkish minister

BERLIN

Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik said the people of Aleppo were subjected to genocide.

Speaking to state-run television TRT from Berlin, Celik spoke out against the violation of the Turkey-brokered cease-fire in Aleppo, saying, “It is not just violating human rights in front of the modern world, but a people is subjected to genocide.”

He termed it as “most shameful for humanity” and added any lesson taken from first and second world wars dropped to zero in the Aleppo case.

“Everything gained in favour of humanity is tested out in Aleppo. Cease-fire declared and violated again. Why? They [regime forces] cannot tolerate the time span and the passage opened for civilians to exit.”

He added the photos from news agencies reveal that the world couldn’t avoid the massacre shown in Aleppo. “This is a big shame,” he added.

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.