Visiting Türkiye, Greek foreign minister calls damage from last week’s twin quakes ‘devastating’

By Sibel Morrow

HATAY, Türkiye (AA) – Visiting the region, Greece’s foreign minister on Sunday stressed the scale of the damage from last week’s earthquakes in southern Türkiye.

“This is totally devastating,” Nikos Dendias told Anadolu.

His remarks came after he and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Hatay, Türkiye’s southernmost province, and one that suffered extensive damage from the quakes.

“Türkiye and Greece should not wait for another earthquake to smooth ties,” Dendias told a joint press briefing with Cavusoglu.

After Dendias left for Adana Airport – in another affected province – Cavusoglu hailed the Greek foreign minister’s visit, meant to show solidarity with Türkiye despite tensions between the two countries, as “significant.”

“There might be problems between countries,” Cavusoglu told reporters. “We have had unresolved issues with Greece for a while. Sometimes we see tensions, but we have always been two countries that come together during difficult times,” he added.

Over 29,600 people were killed and more than 80,000 injured by two powerful earthquakes that rocked southern Türkiye last Monday, according to the latest figures.

The earthquakes hit Kahramanmaras and nine other provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.​​​​​​​

According to Syrian sources, more than 3,000 people were killed in the northern provinces of Idlib, Latakia, Aleppo, Hama, and Raqqa.

• Mevlut Cavusoglu
• Nikos Dendias
• Twin FEB 6 earthquakes