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Young Aleppo survivor meets Turkish President

Reporter: Jessica Stone 丨 CCTV.com

12-22-2016 14:23 BJT

One of the younger victims of the conflict in Syria is a seven-year-old girl who has received global attention. She was evacuated to Turkey earlier this week and on Wednesday, she had an opportunity to personally thank the Turkish president. Jessica Stone has her story.

This is the end of a long journey for seven-year-old Bana Alabed.

A trip that ends in the palace of the Turkish president began with a Twitter account in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, managed by her mother, Fatemah.

She said, "Me and Bana want to tell all the world how much kids and old people in east Aleppo, how much they are suffering from bombs and everything, because there is no life there."

AlabedBana documented Bana's life in pictures and videos during the Syrian civil war, gaining more than 300,000 followers since September, trying to keep the violence on the minds and in the hearts of those around the world.

Bana's outreach also caught the attention of critics who questioned how she could speak English so well, and why her family had electricity when the city was frequently without power. Even Syria's President Bashar al-Assad suggested she was part of a propaganda campaign.

But an investigative website called Bellingcat looked into Bana, and verified her story.

Earlier this week, Bana was evacuated along with her family and dozens of orphans -- all of it documented by journalists.

Turkey welcomed Bana and her family in Ankara - with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan releasing these pictures of their trip to the presidential palace on Wednesday. Turkey has supported rebels fighting Syrian President Assad. As for Bana, she's still using her Twitter account.

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