As his colleagues spent most of their days in disaster-hit provinces since Feb. 6, when the worst earthquakes in recent history struck the country, Türkiye’s foreign minister seems entirely occupied as condolences poured in and countries mobilized for support. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has been engaged in intense diplomatic contact since the disaster.
He held 23 meetings and more than 70 phone calls with ministers, foreign diplomats and senior representatives of international organizations.
Çavuşoğlu met with Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), on Feb. 9, followed by meetings with Martin Griffiths, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, on Feb. 10 and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on Feb. 11. On Feb. 12, he met his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in the quake-hit Hatay province, where he thanked Greece for its support during "such difficult times." The visit was quite rare and a landmark as both ministers acknowledged that this post-disaster solidarity might boost their relations, which appeared at an all-time low amid a string of disputes between the two neighbors.
On Feb. 13, Türkiye’s top diplomat held separate talks with Equatorial Guinea Foreign Minister Angue Simeon and Libya’s Najla Elmangoush in the capital Ankara. In a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Ankara on Feb. 14, Çavuşoğlu praised Israel’s "serious" support in search and rescue efforts in Kahramanmaraş. "Israel is one of the first countries that sent support to Türkiye," said Çavuşoğlu. Like Greece, Israel was at odds with Türkiye, and only recently, relations were normalized between the two countries. And just like Greece, Israel was among the first responders to another disaster, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in northwestern Türkiye in 1999.
On the same day, Çavuşoğlu met with Nechirvan Barzani, head of northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). On Feb. 15, he met Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Jordan’s Ayman Safadi, and Florent Ntsiba, state minister and director of the Presidential Cabinet of Congo, in Ankara.
On Feb. 16, he met Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Arnoldo Andre Tinoco and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who traveled to Türkiye to extend solidarity and support. "Our NATO allies immediately sent support to Türkiye after the earthquake," Çavuşoğlu said. On Feb. 18, Uzbekistan’s Acting Foreign Minister, Bahtiyor Saidov, paid a visit to Ankara, where Çavuşoğlu hailed Uzbekistan for standing by Türkiye at a challenging time.
One day later, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was Çavuşoğlu’s guest on his first visit to Türkiye as secretary of state. First, Çavuşoğlu gave him an aerial tour of the earthquake-hit areas as he did for some of his other foreign counterparts. Then, on Feb. 20, the two held a joint press conference. On the same day, Çavuşoğlu held a joint news conference with his North Macedonian counterpart Bujar Osmani and Helga Schmid, secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
He hosted Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Abdulcemil Kırımoğlu on Feb. 21, as well as Jang Sung-min, special representative of the president of South Korea.
On Feb. 22, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and Johan Forssell, the international development minister of Sweden, paid a visit to Ankara and held a press conference with Çavuşoğlu.
On Feb. 23, the Turkish minister held separate meetings with Hissein Brahim Taha, secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Muhammad Musa Bello, Nigeria’s federal capital territory minister and special presidential envoy. The same day, Çavuşoğlu held a joint news conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bouhabib and Ali Hamie, Lebanon’s transport minister, who visited Ankara to voice solidarity with Türkiye.
Besides meetings and phone calls, Çavuşoğlu has received more than 100 messages of solidarity and support.