Turkish FM talks plight of civilians in Aleppo with Kerry

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry exchanged their views over the violence in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, as the latter was due to hold urgent talks in Geneva in a bid to bolster a fragile, partial cease-fire in Syria, while Turkish leaders were furious over assaults by regime forces in Aleppo. 

Çavu?o?lu and Kerry held a telephone conversation late on May 1, Turkish diplomatic sources told Hürriyet Daily News. 

"Developments taking place in Syria in recent days and particularly the attacks on civilians in Aleppo were on the agenda of the conversation," the diplomatic sources, speaking under customary condition of anonymity, said.

Çavu?o?lu initiated the telephone conversation with Kerry, the same sources said.

On April 29, fears of more violence upon airstrikes by government forces prompted religious leaders in opposition neighborhoods of Aleppo to suspend public Friday prayers at mosques to avoid further casualties, the Religious Council of Aleppo said in a statement.

"Yesterday, on the holy day of Friday, Friday prayer couldn't be performed in Aleppo," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu said on April 30, in a speech delivered in the eastern province of Mu?.

"In the beautiful Aleppo, in the Aleppo which is the light of our life, mosques remained orphaned this Friday. Do you know why? Russian airplanes, treacherous airplanes, occupiers' airplanes, the Syrian airplanes - they poured down bombs on innocent people without regarding whether they were civilians, children or women, and on hospitals," Davuto?lu said.

On May 1, at Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Istanbul's Üsküdar district, a group called the "Friday Prayer Revolution" held an event called "We...