New Delhi: The situation in Turkiye continues to be “very critical”, Turkish Ambassador to India Fırat Sunel said two days after the catastrophic earthquakes hit the country, causing a monumental devastation across the entire West Asian region. India’s reaction has been “swift”, he told ABP Live.
“The situation is very critical… This is one of the worst tragedies in West Asia. Apart from the earthquakes there have been more than 300 aftershocks. This is a devastating catastrophe and consequences will last for years,” Sunel said, adding that several countries, including India, responded immediately to help Turkiye.
He said: “India’s reaction was important and critical because the first two-three days are very important as it’s is a matter of life and death. India’s response was swift.”
According to Sunel, it was crucial for India to send especially the search and rescue equipment and also sniffer dogs as that helped in carrying out immediate operations in finding out people who are still lying under the debris.
So far India has sent four C-17 planeloads of relief material, equipment and personnel, weighing over 108 tons, to Turkiye.
All Turkish missions around the world and many other countries in solidarity kept the flag half-mast. Turkiye will be following this for a week.
According to the Turkish envoy, as the relief work conclude, “there be more needs later on” to bring the country “back on track”.
“The way India acted and the way Turkiye had responded when India needed help during the Covid crisis, show that we are true friends. We are friends, and friends help each other when they are in need,” he added.
India Sends Field Hospital, Gives ‘Much-Needed Moral Support’
India Tuesday also sent field hospital run by the Indian Army to provide medical support. It was Agra-based Army Field Hospital that despatched an 89-member medical team comprising critical care specialists, including an orthopaedic surgical team, general surgical specialists, medical specialists, apart from other teams.
The teams are equipped with X-ray machines, ventilators, oxygen generation plant, cardiac monitors and associated equipment to establish a 30-bed medical facility.
According to Sunel, it is also important for countries to give “moral support” apart from humanitarian aid. He said statements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar among others gave moral support to Turkiye.
He added that the visit by Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan to Turkish embassy provided a “much-needed moral support”.
In May 2021, when India was reeling under a massive shortage of oxygen supplies, Turkiye had sent two military aircraft carrying oxygen concentrators, ventilators and medicines.
That gesture was seen as thawing of ties between New Delhi and Ankara after it plummeted owing to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s criticism of India’s decision to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.