“As I said, friendships are tested during hard times. I can say that our friendship grew stronger because of this earthquake. We already have multi-level relations with IKBY [Kurdistan Region],” Mehmet Mevlut Yakut, the Turkish Consul General to Erbil, told Rudaw’s Hawraz Gulpi.
A disastrous 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the city of Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey earlier this month with its impact also ripping through neighboring Syria. Over 46,000 people have been killed in both countries due to the quake as of Sunday, with millions others left homeless and in need of urgent support.
The Kurdistan Region’s teams which included rescue teams from the interior ministry, medical teams from the health ministry, and teams from Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF), arrived in Turkey and Syria shortly after the disaster to help in the multi-national rescue mission.
Yakut commended a message by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani during his visit to quake-hit Turkey.
“He gave the message of ‘we share your pain, your pain is our shared pain.’ I find this very meaningful and we are expressing our gratitude for this.”
Following his visit to the quake-hit areas, Barzani headed to Ankara where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, extending his condolences and reiterating the Kurdistan Region’s commitment to supporting Turkey.
Erdogan expressed his gratitude for Barzani’s visit, as well the humanitarian aid Kurdistan Region rapid response units have been providing in Turkey during this crisis, according to a statement from Barzani’s office.
