Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who arrived in Istanbul a day after the earthquake that hit Turkey. The Emir of Qatar, who left Doha for Turkey this morning accompanied by an official delegation, is the first Arab leader to visit Turkey after the violent earthquake that hit the south of the country.
The two leaders met at the Presidential Palace in Istanbul, where El Thani ordered the launch of an air operation to deliver relief equipment to the Turks and allocate 10,000 mobile homes to the areas affected by the earthquake. Yesterday he announced a donation of 14 million dollars for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
From the first day of the disaster, Qatar started a campaign on the country’s official television, in which it asked for donations for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. So far, 46 million dollars have been collected in the fundraising campaign, which continues at the same time as field work carried out by rescue and rescue teams from Qatar providing assistance to the victims. A few days ago, the Qatari teams managed to rescue survivors from under the ruins of a collapsed building in the Nordeg area of Gaziantep.
In Syria, today President Bashar al-Assad met Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, to discuss the consequences of the earthquake that struck Syria. At the meeting, Ben Zayed expressed his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, wished recovery to the injured, and emphasized his country’s support and standing by Syria and the continued provision of the necessary assistance to the Syrian people.
Assad, for his part, thanked the leadership of the United Arab Emirates for the aid it provides to the Syrian people, pointing out that the United Arab Emirates was among the first countries to send large-scale humanitarian aid to the Syrians.
The official Emirates News Agency reported that Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed visited the areas affected by the devastating earthquake, located in northwestern Syria, and thanked the Emirati search and rescue teams present in the country. He welcomed the ongoing efforts they are making in the process of rescuing the survivors from under the ruins of the buildings and praised their professionalism and efficiency.
The Emirati Foreign Minister emphasized during the meeting with Assad that the United Arab Emirates is committed to standing by the side of the Syrian people and providing the necessary support and assistance to relieve those suffering from a humanitarian disaster that has left material and human damage. The Turks and Syrians have so far reported about 30,000 deaths in the 7.7-magnitude earthquake, followed by another 7.6-magnitude earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria.