Türkiye's ambassador to Saudi Arabia thanks Gulf Cooperation Council for quake relief

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's ambassador to Saudi Arabia thanked the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Tuesday for providing urgent relief to his country’s earthquake-hit regions.

Fatih Ulusoy also congratulated Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi for assuming the post of secretary general of the GCC following a meeting at the council’s headquarters in Riyadh.

Albudaiwi, who served as Kuwait’s ambassador to the US, was appointed to the position last month.

“During the meeting, cooperation opportunities between Türkiye and the GCC were also discussed,” Ulusoy said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the council said in a statement that Albudaiwi affirmed the keenness of the leaders of the GCC countries “to provide urgent relief to the afflicted and those affected by the earthquake(s).”

Formed in 1981, the GCC has six members -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman -- which heavily rely on oil and gas revenues.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa, claiming at least 45,089 lives in Türkiye’s southern region, according to the country’s disaster management agency, AFAD.

More than 13 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the devastating quakes as well as many in northwestern Syria.