Egypt has delivered aid supplies totaling 650 tons to Türkiye’s southeastern region devastated by twin earthquakes on Feb. 6, local media reported Wednesday.
Under directives from President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, military vessel ENS Halayeb first made a stop at the Port of al-Arish, north of the Sinai Peninsula, and took on containers full of aid materials supplied from Cairo, including 285 tents, 99,300 blankets, hundreds of mattresses and electric heaters, as well as medicine, food and hygiene and medical materials.
The ship, measuring 105 meters in length and 40 meters in height, made land at Türkiye’s southern Port of Mersin after a two-day journey early on Wednesday.
Egypt’s Ankara Mission Chief and Charge D’affaires Soliman al-Hamamy, along with Coast Guard Command officials and Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) representatives, greeted the ship upon docking.
AFAD is to take delivery of the supplies and distribute them at the disaster zone, Turkish officials informed.
In the wake of the earthquakes, el-Sissi extended his condolences to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the phone, al-Hamamy told Anadolu Agency (AA) after welcoming the vessel.
"Egypt stands with Türkiye in this painful time and will continue to do so," he stressed. "We deployed medical supplies to the brotherly Turkish people immediately after the earthquakes. Now, we’re sending another batch of humanitarian aid to those impacted by this horrible tragedy."
"A significant quantity of the aid we’re providing is that it’s being delivered on a military ship. This is the first Egyptian military ship that arrived in Türkiye after a decade. This ship carries the love Egyptian people have for the Turkish people," al-Hamamy said.
Should the need arise for more aid, Egypt will do its best for Türkiye to overcome the calamity, al-Hamamy noted.
After magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes leveled Türkiye’s 11 provinces and left more than 42,000 dead since Feb. 6, Egypt was swift to dispatch humanitarian assistance while el-Sissi became one of the first leaders to convey condolences to President Erdoğan over the catastrophe. However, the two countries' relations are still not fully normalized over past disputes.