Turkey seeks UN Security Council meeting on Turkmens in Syria — sources

ANKARA — Turkey has called for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighbouring Syria, sources in the prime minister's office said, days after Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the bombing of their villages.

About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous Syrian area to the Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days, one Turkish official said. Russian jets have bombed the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces.

Ankara has traditionally expressed solidarity with the Syrian Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent. It has also repeatedly voiced concern about Russian military support for Syrian President Bashar  Assad in Syria's civil war.

Turkey is in discussions with the United States and Russia over the bombing of the villages and sent a letter to Britain, the current holder of the council's presidency, asking for the subject to be taken up, the sources said.

They said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had consulted on the intelligence dimension of the issue with the armed forces chief and the head of the national intelligence agency.

Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu had also discussed the matter by phone with US Secretary of State John Kerry, they said.

Turkey summoned Moscow's ambassador on Friday and called for an immediate end to the Russian military operation near its border in northern Syria, which it said included "heavy bombardment" of Turkmen civilian villages.

The provincial governor of Turkey's Hatay province, which borders the area where the bombing is taking place, said around 1,700 Turkmens had fled towards Turkey over the last three days, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkey is already hosting around 2.2 million Syrian refugees.