Erdogan says Turkey's duty is to blow out Aleppo 'fire'

ANKARA (AA) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday it was Turkey’s duty “to its brothers to blow out the fire in Aleppo".

Addressing elected neighborhood representatives from around Turkey at the presidential complex in Ankara, Erdogan said at least “one million people would flock to Turkey if an exodus starts in Aleppo”.

"With all due respect, we will not pay the price for that," the Turkish leader added.

Since Sept. 19, when the Bashar al-Assad regime announced the end of a week-long truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow, Syrian and Russian warplanes have pounded opposition-held parts of Aleppo.

Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed or injured in the attacks.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, a Beirut-based NGO, has put the total death toll from the five-year conflict at more than 470,000.

- Erdogan, Putin talks -

Erdogan highlighted his phone conversation with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday evening, and said Russia ended its air bombardment at around 10 p.m. local time (GMT 1900).

The Turkish leader also said he and Putin had agreed on removing the terrorist Fatah al-Sham Front (formerly called al-Nusra Front) from Aleppo.

Turkey proscribed the group as a terrorist organization in June 2014.

- ‘Protecting Turkey’s future’

The president also lashed out at Iraq's government and said Turkey had "opened its doors to 300,000 Iraqis" and "should not be criticized".

"You [Iraqi government] cannot find an ally like us. You will lose a friend if you hurt your friend," Erdogan said. "That is why I have been saying: 'Turkey will be on the field and at the table for the Mosul operation'."

Erdogan said Turkey's involvement in the ongoing operation to clear the Daesh terror group from the northern Iraqi city was not about violating Iraq's sovereignty but "protecting Turkey's future".

A broad military campaign on Mosul entered its third day Wednesday with more losses sustained by the terrorist group.

In mid-2014, Daesh captured Mosul -- Iraq’s second-largest city -- before overrunning large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and a U.S.-led air coalition, retake much territory.

Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.

In recent weeks, the army and its allies have staged a gradual advance on the city, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to recapture by year’s end.