BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Tuesday that creating a "safe zone" for refugees in northern Syria could put them at risk of being massacred, starkly distancing her country from a Turkish proposal.
France said on Monday it would discuss with its partners in the coming days the suggestion by Turkey and members of the Syrian opposition that a "no-fly zone" could be created in northern Syria.
Speaking to lawmakers from her party in Berlin, Merkel expressed concern about the dangers of trying to create such a buffer zone.
"If we were not able to guarantee security, then a situation would arise that would be even worse than Srebrenica," Merkel said, according to a number of people present in the meeting, referring to the slaughter of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995.
