Erdogan meets Aleppo's Twitter activist Bana Alabed

By Ilkay Guder and Ilhan Toprak

ANKARA (AA) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old Syrian girl whose tweets about life in war-torn Aleppo made headlines across the world.

The president and his spouse, Emine Erdogan, welcomed Bana and her family to the presidential palace in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday.

Erdogan, accompanied by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, listened to the family’s account of their suffering in the devastated Syrian city.

Bana thanked Erdogan for helping her family. She had been among the thousands of people evacuated on Monday from Aleppo.

"You took us from Aleppo. We have been through many difficulties and pain. Our home was bombed and collapsed on us. We suffered a lot on the bus. We had no food, we were hungry. We thank you for everything,” she told the Turkish leader.

Erdogan later tweeted on his official account: “I was pleased to host @AlabedBana and her family at the Presidential Complex today. Turkey will always stand with the people of Syria.”