Harem District

Ankara on July 9 welcomed the U.N. Security Council's decision to extend the delivery of humanitarian aid from Turkey to northwestern Syria for the next 12 months.

Earlier, the U.N. Security Council voted to extend the authorization of the cross-border mechanism to aid Syrian people.

The council mandate for the operation was due to expire on Saturday.

A settlement for the Cyprus issue is "key" to the resolution of the tensions in the Mediterranean, according to Wendy Morton, the U.K.'s minister for European Neighbourhood.

Speaking during an interview with private broadcaster CNN Türk, Morton said that the U.K. supports a "comprehensive, fair and lasting" settlement to the Cyprus issue.

Turkey and the United States might have differences on some issues, but the two NATO allies are on the same page regarding the continuation of cross-border assistance to Syrians, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a group of journalists on June 4.

Turkey has expressed concern to Russian officials in Ankara over attacks in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib and the operation zone of Turkish troops deployed in northern Syria.

The United States has announced an additional $108 million assistance to the Syrian people amid a new refugee influx towards the Turkish borders due to intensified military operations by the Syrian regime backed by Russia.

Aid deliveries to millions of Syrian civilians were hanging in the balance on Jan. 9 ahead of the expiration of a United Nations mandate authorizing cross-border humanitarian convoys from Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.

The United Nations Security Council on Dec. 20  rejected rival resolutions that would continue the delivery of humanitarian aid across borders to more than 1 million Syrians every month in mainly rebel-held areas, leaving future deliveries in question as winter arrives.

Turkey has limited cross-border movements at its Cilvegözü crossing on the Syrian border because the area "has been taken by a group that we consider a terrorist group," Customs Minister Bülent Tüfenkci stated on Aug. 10. 

A member of parliament has claimed that Turkey has handed over six fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD), blaming the government for committing a war crime.