Türkiye, Israel pledge to further develop cooperation

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye and Israel will continue efforts to develop cooperation, said the Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday.

In a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Ankara, Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked Israel for its support and noted their "serious" support in search and rescue efforts in earthquake-hit Kahramanmaras.

"Israel is one of the first countries that sent support to Türkiye," said Cavusoglu, adding that Israeli search and rescue as well as medical teams immediately came to Türkiye's southern quake-hit regions.

Noting that Israel's teams were one of the "largest" on the ground, the Turkish minister said Israeli rescue workers gave "very serious support" to the efforts in Kahramanmaras, pulling 19 people from the rubble.

For his part, Cohen expressed solidarity and condolences with Türkiye and Turkish people "during these difficult times" as he said Israel "will do all we can to provide aid and comfort those in need."

Cohen also called the powerful earthquakes in southern Türkiye last week "a tragic event which had no precedent in the past century."

"We will continue to strengthen our relations in the days and months ahead. We will develop and advance our bilateral relations in different fields," he added.

On Feb. 6, two massive earthquakes struck southern Türkiye.

The magnitude 7.6 and 7.7 tremors also hit several countries and caused destruction in northern Syria.

More than 31,600 people were killed in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures, while the death toll topped 3,600 in Syria.