Turkish Press Review

Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Friday's newspapers mainly covered the huge numbers of refugees reportedly coming to Turkey's border from the Syrian city of Aleppo following increased airstrikes by Russia and attacks from the Bashar al-Assad regime.

"10 thousand [people] on the border, 70 thousand on the way" was HURRIYET's headline.

The daily reported that the siege of Aleppo by the Syrian regime backed by Russian support has caused an exodus of thousands of Syrian people toward Turkey's border.

The paper also "ed Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, during a news conference at the Syria donor conference in London, as saying: "The corridor between Turkey and Aleppo has been cut off due to attacks [of the regime forces]".

STAR ran the front-page headline "Aleppo falls", writing that 21 civilians had been killed in the bombing of Aleppo on Thursday.

The paper also claimed that 70,000 people have taken the road to Turkey, while 10.000 were waiting at the Turkish border.

"Russia wants to settle on the border" was YENI SAFAK headline.

The paper "ed local opposition fighter commander Mahmut Haci Hasan, as saying: "Russia has been attacking us with over 80 armored vehicles, [...] they want to create a wide territory of control by advancing to Turkey's border".

The issue dominated headlines. MILLIYET wrote "Escape from Aleppo", "70 thousand people on the border", said AKSAM; VATAN ran "We are concerned", and HABERTURK chose "Thousands are at the gate".

In other news, dailies covered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's reaction to the suspension of the Syria peace talks in Geneva.

SABAH ran the headline "What kind of peace table is this?", citing Erdogan, as saying: "Why you are meeting [in Geneva]? …to stall the world?"

HURRIYET wrote "Strong Geneva reaction from Erdogan".

The paper "ed Erdogan as saying: "When Russia, and the regime are heavily bombarding these [Syrian] people, can there be any other solution for them other than flee [the country]? Where will these people go?"

"Is there someone who has any hope for Geneva [talks]?" Erdogan asked during a press conference in Ecuador.

The Geneva talks were suspended Wednesday with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura saying "more work" was needed. The talks are expected to resume on Feb. 25.

In economics news, financial newspaper DUNYA ran the headline "New step in FTA (Free Trade Agreement) preparation with Peru".

The daily wrote that Erdogan said that the fourth stage of the free trade agreement preparation had been completed. A fifth stage is expected to be finalized in June.