Türkiye to heal wounds together with int’l community: FM
ANKARA
Türkiye will use own resources and pledges from the international community to heal the wounds of the devastating earthquakes, the top Turkish diplomat has said, stressing that the works have already started on how to coordinate all the assistance from the U.N., European Union and other countries and institutions.
“In the end, we will heal these wounds altogether. We will overcome this disaster with our own resources as well as the support of the international community, and friendly nations,” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at a joint press conference with visiting Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib late on Feb. 23.
Acknowledging significant assistance and support from the international community in the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes on Feb. 6, Çavuşoğlu said the U.N. has activated an urgent call mechanism and demanded $1 billion worth assistance for the first three months.
“Since yesterday, we observe that some countries have already contributed to that. We are working with the U.N. on how to use the contribution coming from the U.N.,” he said.
Çavuşoğlu underlined that EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi paid a visit to Ankara for coordinating the upcoming donors’ conference to be held in Brussels on March 16. “We are now working with the EU in coordination with our institutions to determine where to use this fund. We are giving our utmost support,” he said.
The minister thanked Lebanon who dispatched five search and rescue and medical teams with 120 personnel to Türkiye. “The first team arrived only 19 hours after the earthquake. We held joint search and rescue training sessions in Lebanon last year. Ten volunteers who joined these training sessions were among the teams who came to Türkiye. This team saved three people from under the rubble in Kahramanmaraş,” he explained.
Bouhabib, for his part, conveyed his condolences on behalf of his country and stressed how they felt sorrow over the tragedy. “We know that Türkiye has been with us through our difficult time. We wish the reconstruction of the collapsed cities. This earthquake occurred in an area 19 times bigger than Lebanon,” he said.
