THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OCT. 19, 2016- French President Francois Hollande has called the situation in Aleppo “unacceptable, intolerable, unbearable” ahead of a meeting in Berlin that was primarily aimed at tackling problems in Ukraine.
The French president made the comments Wednesday in Paris following a meeting with Rahed Al-Saleh, the head of the White Helmets volunteer civil defense force that digs the dead and injured out from collapsed buildings, and a Syrian delegation from Aleppo.
Hollande said the Berlin meeting later in the day with Germany, Russia and Ukraine would extend to discussions of the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Hollande said that “what is at stake, in the end, it’s the honor or the shame of the international community.”
Turkey’s president says his Russian counterpart has asked for Turkey’s assistance toward the removal of fighters from the extremist Fatah al-Sham Front, previously known as Nusra Front, from the embattled northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he discussed Aleppo with Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday evening, before Russia announced a temporary halt to airstrikes.
He added the leaders discussed an agreement to work together on “removing Nusra from Aleppo and ensuring calm for Aleppo residents on this front.”
Erdogan also warned about the possibility of an influx of at least one million people to Turkey in the event of a population movement from Aleppo.
“We cannot pay this cost. Those who incite this must sit down with Turkey and talk,” he said.