UN envoy to Syria to visit Turkey next week

<p style="text-align: left;">Speaking at a joint news conference with Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Geir Pedersen will visit Turkey’s capital Ankara next week.<br /> Cavusoglu said if the regime in Syria continues aggression, it will lead to a new humanitarian disaster.<br /> Soreide, for her part, praised Turkey’s stance on Syria, saying that humanitarian aid must continue in the region.<br /> “If Turkey had not taken a step, not opened the borders, or not accepted the refugees, the situation would be much worse in the region,” she added.<br /> Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.  Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.<br /> Reporter's code: 50101</p>