Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul, Turkey, January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that around 400,000 people in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province were moving toward the Turkish border as a result of renewed attacks by the Syrian government.

Turkish aid groups have begun building more than 10,000 houses in Idlib to shelter the growing number of people displaced by the fighting, while Turkey seeks to prevent a new influx of migrants across its border.

Speaking at a news conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Erdogan said she told him that Germany could provide some support for the plans.