Ankara – Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, held four telephone conversations over the situation in Aleppo within 48 hours, diplomatic sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Thursday.
The sources added that during these talks, the officials agreed to facilitate the exit of civilians from Aleppo, with utmost priority given to the injured needing immediate hospitalization.
The sources also said that extensive talks conducted by Cavusoglu, in addition to a telephone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have contributed to saving the truce, which was agreed on Tuesday and collapsed the second day as pro-regime forces resumed their airstrikes.
Meanwhile, Ankara expressed its readiness to welcome all refugees from Aleppo, adding that it would work in the coming phase on finding a comprehensive solution to the Syrian crisis.
Cavusoglu noted that his country was deploying efforts to launch negotiations over a political solution to the war in Syria, adding that a tripartite meeting in this regard would be held on December 27 in Moscow between Turkey, Russia and Iran.
The Turkish foreign affairs minister added that his country has called on the U.N. General Assembly to hold an emergency meeting on Aleppo.
In the same context, Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry’s spokesperson, Hussein Muftuoglu, said on Thursday that the agreement over Aleppo was mainly aimed at opening a humanitarian corridor to end the suffering of the city’s residents.
“If there is a similar situation in an different region, Turkey is ready to contribute to the end of humanitarian sufferings and put these regions on its agenda,” Muftuoglu stated.
Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik said that the current priority was to transfer the injured to hospitals inside Turkey.
“Our friends are particularly working to transfer the wounded. We made preparations, both in Turkey and Idlib. Hospitals are prepared”, he added.