Turkish Foreign Minister fell into the arms of a Greek colleague while visiting areas affected by the earthquake

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hugged his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias as the latter arrived in earthquake-hit Turkey early Sunday morning.

The foreign ministers had a brief meeting in the waiting room at the Adana airport and then boarded helicopters heading for earthquake-hit areas in Hatay province.

In brief press statements, Cavusoglu praised Greece for its quick response and assistance in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. “Greece was the first country to come to the rescue,” Cavusoglu said. “Good neighborly relations are evident in such difficult times,” he added, referring to diplomacy after the August and September 1999 earthquakes in both countries.

“We do not need to wait for natural disasters to improve our relations,” Dendias said, separately assuring Turkey that it will continue to provide assistance to the neighboring country directly or through the mechanism EU.

It is worth noting that the “rapprochement” comes after a long period of “aggressive rhetoric” from Turkey, when both countries were one step away from starting a full-scale war.

Accompanied by Cavusoglu, Dendias will meet with members of the Greek relief and rescue missions operating in areas heavily damaged by the February 6 magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Dendias will visit the operations center in Antakya and be briefed on the latest developments in the rescue operations, as well as the need for humanitarian assistance. During the visit, ways of further assistance to Greece in overcoming the consequences of the natural disaster will be considered.

Today I am visiting Turkey, where, accompanied by my Turkish counterpart, @MevlutCavusogluI will meet with members of the Greek Aid Mission, which is operating in the areas devastated by the recent earthquakes. pic.twitter.com/6MHUrJFHsG

— Nikos Dendias (@NikosDendias) February 12, 2023

Recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs instructed the Permanent Mission of our country in Geneva to take measures to provide emergency humanitarian assistance through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Turkey and Syria. It is noted that Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Katsaniotis was entrusted with coordinating the activities of organizations and individuals wishing to assist in the collection of humanitarian aid for the earthquake-affected regions of Turkey and Syria.

Almost a week after the earthquake, rescuers continue to extract living people from the rubble. A 35-year-old man was rescued 149 hours after the devastating shock, and a 7-month-old baby was rescued 140 hours later. However, the hope that there will be many more survivors is gradually fading, as the number of people saved is becoming less and less, and they are considered a “miracle”.

Meanwhile, the death toll as of Sunday morning topped 30,000 in both Turkey and Syria, and that number is expected to rise as a large, as yet unknown number of people are trapped under the rubble. According to Turkish authorities, about 80,000 people have been hospitalized, and the number of people left homeless has exceeded one million.

With basic infrastructure destroyed, survivors fear cholera outbreaks, especially in Syria, as basic sanitation facilities such as toilets are missing.

PS Perhaps some of our readers will condemn me, but, as they say, “there is a blessing in disguise.” Because of this earthquake, relations between the countries improved significantly, and what all the inhabitants of both countries had feared for several years, a war between Greece and Turkey, which could lead to even greater casualties and destruction, did not happen.

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