Erdoğan, Bahçeli visit quake zone

HATAY

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli visited the earthquake-hit region in southern Hatay province and examined the quake region on Feb. 20.

The two leaders met the local and foreign search and rescue teams working in the city, along with the municipal cleaning workers and the miners working on the wrecks.

Erdoğan and Bahçeli thanked the mine workers and Deputy General Manager Fazlı Uncu working at the Turkish Hard Coal Institution (TTK) in Hatay for their efforts after the earthquake.

The two also held meetings with opinion leaders and headmen. Erdoğan and Bahçeli posed for souvenir photos with the search and rescue teams.

They were accompanied by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirişci.

Bahçeli announced at the group meeting last week that he would visit earthquake zones. Bahçeli had said he waited for a reasonable time to visit the damaged provinces and all the citizens on a schedule.