Least developed countries were among those rushing to assist Türkiye after two massive earthquakes hit the country’s south, causing widespread destruction and tens of thousands of deaths, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Sunday.
"Least developed countries were among the first to offer support and solidarity during the darkest days. Your solidarity after the earthquake showed once again that you are the most developed and generous at heart," Çavuşoğlu said at the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Qatar's Doha.
Citing the earthquake, Çavuşoğlu highlighted, "The sincere international solidarity warms our hearts and gives us strength."
Türkiye’s top diplomat also stressed the need to support the development and progress of vulnerable nations.
"Our gathering today in Doha takes place at a time when the international system is seeing swift transformations. Least developed countries are the most vulnerable in the face of such developments," Çavuşoğlu said in his remarks.
Noting that it is the international communities' "collective responsibility to support the development and progress of vulnerable nations," Çavuşoğlu added that Türkiye "as a long-standing and reliable partner of LDCs, is doing its best and remains committed."
He cited the LDC4 Conference in Istanbul in 2011, "which drew a 10-year road map."
Çavuşoğlu further cited Türkiye's efforts for the vulnerable nations and said, "We held the comprehensive mid-term review of the Istanbul Program in 2016, in my hometown, Antalya."
"Türkiye (along with Belgium) is the co-chair of the Group of Friends of the Least Developed Countries at the U.N. The U.N. Technology Bank in Türkiye is the only U.N. agency dedicated exclusively to these countries.
"Finally, Türkiye is one of the top-ranking countries in development and humanitarian assistance and contributes to least developed countries' efforts in many fields, including capacity building," he added.
Calling on everyone to not leave these countries behind, Çavuşoğlu noted, "We must act now, without further delay."
Çavuşoğlu also urged to "break the vicious cycles that make development further difficult" and said the "global economic and financial system must be reformed."
"We must find ways to combat climate change, which affects these countries the most, although they did nothing to cause it," he added.
"The Doha Program of Action succeeds in the commitments of the Istanbul Program and offers prospects to build resilience," he said, inviting all "to embrace the program and scale up international efforts."
The Turkish minister further noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "considers sustainable development of the least developed countries a top priority."
At the same conference, Qatar's emir also stressed the need to help Syrians "without hesitation" and support Türkiye’s efforts to recover from the devastating earthquake.
Meanwhile, two ships carrying 396 container homes from Qatar arrived in Türkiye’s southern Hatay province on Saturday for the victims of last month's earthquakes.
As the ships anchored at Hatay’s Iskenderun port, Kırklareli Governor Birol Ekici told reporters they are making great efforts to restore the quake-hit region, highlighting Qatar’s ongoing support for Türkiye.
Pointing out the importance of the containers for returning life to normal in the region, Ekici said Qatar also had sent humanitarian aid and search and rescue teams.
“They have always supported us. I would like to thank our Qatari brothers for this,” he added.
Qatar’s envoy in Ankara, Sheikh Mohammed bin Nasser bin Jassim Al Thani, said his country’s assistance to Türkiye and Syria, also hit by the quakes, will continue.
Upon Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s instructions, the nation has mobilized to dispatch the 10,000 containers, specially manufactured for the World Cup hosted in the capital Doha last year, to the disaster zone.
Qatari authorities are reportedly doing their best to deploy the remaining containers, which will arrive in either the Port of Iskenderun or Mersin to be distributed in the affected areas.
Türkiye, in the meantime, is working to bolster infrastructure in container towns and transfer displaced citizens in tent cities to these towns in line with their needs.
Sheikh Tamim became the first foreign leader to visit Türkiye after the earthquakes, meeting Erdoğan in Istanbul and assuring his country would “mobilize all means” to help Türkiye.
