Heads of UN migration, refugee agencies to visit quake-hit Türkiye

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - International Migration Organization (IOM) Director General Antonio Vitorino and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi will pay a solidarity visit to quake-hit Türkiye.

According to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement on Thursday, Vitorino will visit Türkiye on March 9-11 and is expected to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the capital Ankara.

He will also visit the region affected by last month’s earthquakes.

Separately, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Grandi will be on a visit to Türkiye on March 10-13.

"UN High Commissioner for Refugees Grandi is expected to meet with Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Ankara and then visit the region affected by the earthquakes," statement added.

On Feb. 6, two powerful earthquakes – magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 – struck southern Türkiye.

The massive tremors, centered in Kahramanmaras province, also shook 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.

More than 46,100 people were killed in the earthquakes and some 13.5 million people have been affected, with thousands of buildings destroyed.