15 December 2016•Update: 15 December 2016
By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN
A genocide is now underway in eastern Aleppo, Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik said Thursday.
Speaking to Turkish and German journalists in Berlin following his official talks, Celik expressed grave concern over attacks targeting civilians in eastern Aleppo after Syrian regime forces and its allies entered areas previously under the control of armed opposition groups.
“Sadly, the people in Aleppo are facing a major genocide in front of the eyes of the whole world and modern institutions,” he said.
He criticized world powers for failing to prevent further bloodshed in eastern Aleppo, saying the current situation resembled to the one in 1995, when the world failed to stop the Srebrenica genocide in former Yugoslavia.
“These massacres in front of the eyes of the world and modern institutions is a disgrace,” he said, and urged stronger international efforts to stop the mass slaughter in eastern Aleppo.
Violence escalated in the city this week when Syrian regime forces and Iran-backed Shia militias advanced into opposition-held parts of eastern Aleppo following a five-month long siege and persistent aerial bombardment.
Around 80,000 civilians are believed to have been trapped in these areas.
Celik said Turkey’s recent efforts to open up a humanitarian corridor in Aleppo for the safe exit of people trapped there has been obstructed by attacks of the regime forces and its allies despite a cease-fire agreed between the warring sides on Wednesday.
The Russia-backed regime had stepped up its military campaign in recent months to 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 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 by the conflict and millions more displaced.
