The Group of Turkic States (OTS) members have proven sturdy solidarity after the Feb. 6 earthquakes that ravaged Türkiye’s southeast provinces, Overseas Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated Thursday.
“The nice Turkic world deeply mourned for its brothers misplaced within the earthquake. Nevertheless, you didn’t simply share our grief. You might have exhibited the most effective instance of solidarity diplomacy,” Çavuşoğlu stated as he addressed the opening speech of the OTS’s Council of Overseas Ministers assembly within the capital Ankara.
The assembly got here forward of the extraordinary summit of leaders of the OTS, which can convene underneath the theme of Catastrophe-Emergency Administration and Humanitarian Help.
“As my colleagues, you’ve gotten personally proven your assist. For instance, you despatched search and rescue groups and discipline hospitals,” Çavuşoğlu recalled.
Türkiye was devastated by the most important catastrophe in its trendy historical past on Feb. 6 with magnitude 7.7 and seven.6 tremors that leveled 1000’s of buildings and killed at the very least 48,448 individuals throughout 11 provinces – Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa. Greater than 13.5 million individuals in Türkiye have been affected by the devastating quakes, which additionally extensively broken neighboring Syria and claimed at the very least 6,000 deaths in its northwest.
Condolences, donations, rescuers and humanitarian reduction poured into the area from world wide ever since, together with from OTS members who despatched a complete of 1,706 search and rescue and medical personnel, 53 rescue canines and over 3,000 tons of humanitarian help, and arrange 9 discipline hospitals whereas elevating over $5 million for the victims.
The OTS, previously referred to as the Turkic Council, is a world group comprising main unbiased Turkic international locations that work collectively to raise relations and the union amongst themselves. Its members are Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, whereas Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have observer standing.
Çavuşoğlu on Thursday stated the group is “bolstering its company infrastructure and pushing collaboration to new areas daily.”
“Group of Turkic States was a dream for us all and it turned actual,” he stated.
Çavuşoğlu on Thursday stated the group is increasing its cooperation to new areas.
“We’ve carried out large-scale vitality tasks such because the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and TANAP (Trans-Anatolian Pure Fuel Pipeline) collectively. We must always improve cooperation for TANAP to hold extra pure fuel from the Caspian area to the worldwide market,” he added.
The minister stated that the group should improve the “Center Hall’s” share in international commerce when Asia returns to the fore.
The Center Hall formally dubbed the Trans-Caspian East-West Hall, permits the quick transportation of products from China to Europe and emerges as a significant supply of economic alternative for Central Asian international locations.
Turning to regional points, Çavuşoğlu stated the battle in Ukraine and the developments in Afghanistan are carefully associated to the group.
“We should strengthen our unity. The truth that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is amongst us as an observer is significant on this respect,” he added.
The popularity of the Turkish Cypriot individuals’s sovereign equality, rights and equal worldwide standing, and the abolition of the isolation and restrictions that the TRNC is subjected to must be the frequent objective, Çavuşoğlu confused.
The TRNC was awarded observer standing on the OTS’s final summit in Samarkand final November in a transfer hailed as “an vital step in bringing the Turkic states even nearer.” The admission additionally marked the primary time Turkish Cyprus had the chance to be represented in a world group with its constitutional title.