Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes that occurred in Türkiye on February 6, affected ten provinces in the region, as well as the surrounding countries and caused great losses. We wish Allah’s mercy upon our young students, their parents and teachers, all our citizens, as well as all our brothers and sisters in the Republic of Türkiye who lost their lives in this tragic disaster, we express our condolences to their bereaved families, the Turkish Cypriot People and the entire Turkish Nation.
Under the leadership of the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Committee (TRNC AFAD), the work carried out from a single center with coordination of our Ministry and diplomatic missions in Türkiye continues intensively for our citizens, who have been affected by the earthquake, which caused thousands of people to die under the rubble and injured tens of thousands.
From the very beginning of the first earthquake, under the coordination of our Embassy in Ankara, all our Consulate-Generals, with the cooperation of our Ministry staff, were mobilized to save our citizens in the region, and coordination was ensured by transmitting the information from the regions to the TRNC AFAD. At the same time, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, necessary works have been initiated to reach our citizens in earthquake areas, to meet their needs for shelter, medicine, food, etc., and to evacuate them to our country.
Our Ambassador, Gaziantep and Mersin Consul-Generals and their personnel arrived at Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay on the morning of the incident; and made an effort to find and remove our citizens who were trapped under the rubble, and to transfer the survivors to safe airports to ensure their return to the TRNC. In this context, our citizens in Adana, Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya and Hatay were brought to Adana to be evacuated to our country.
In addition, our Embassy and the aforementioned Consulate Generals carried out the necessary follow-up every day to determine whether there were any of our citizens among the injured who were brought from the earthquake regions and placed in the hospitals in their duty areas. Our other Consulate-Generals have been trying to meet the needs of our students and citizens, who are affected by the earthquake and have to move to other provinces, such as accommodation.
Ankara Embassy and Consulate-Generals, continues to maintain coordination and information flow with the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Committee in order to safeguard our citizens’ health and their return to the country as well as to deliver the aid sent from our country to the earthquake-affected areas. In this framework, efforts are made in coordination with TRNC AFAD to deliver aid to Türkiye, which will come from the Greek Cypriot side through the United Nations.
Besides, pursuant to the decision taken by the Council of Ministers regarding ensuring specimen collection by the judicial authorities of the relevant province before removal of the debris of the hotels and the teacher’s house, that collapsed during the February 6 earthquake, in which TRNC citizens lost their lives, and initiation of an investigation, our Ministry has contacted with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye and ensured the initiation of an investigation by the relevant provinces’ judicial authorities.
We respectfully announce to the public that our work continues in this process and we stand by our citizens who have been affected by the earthquake and lost their relatives, as well as by our Motherland, the Republic of Türkiye with all our support.