"I gave instructions today to lodge a request with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva on the subject of humanitarian aid," the Anatolia news agency quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying on Saturday during a visit to Washington.

"Turkey is launching an initiative at the UN office in Geneva to put in place a flow of humanitarian aid towards Syria," he said, lamenting a "humanitarian tragedy" unfolding notably in central Homs and in Zabadani, near the capital Damascus, being shelled by the Syrian army.

As the OHCHR does not have a humanitarian remit, the initiative would likely be taken up by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but Davutoglu did not elaborate on the procedure to be followed.
Davutoglu, who was to meet his US counterpart Hillary Clinton on Monday, said Turkey planned to raise the issue of the crackdown in Syria before the UN General Assembly, after the UN Security Council last weekend failed to pass a resolution on the crisis because of vetos by Russia and China.

"We will step up our initiatives both to bring the subject before the General Assembly ... and to bring humanitarian aid to our Syrian brothers in the framework of the OHCHR," he said.
Turkey is a former ally of Syria but broke ties with the regime over the crackdown which has claimed more than 6,000 lives, according to rights organisations, since March 2011.