President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thanked Turkic states for their support and solidarity in the aftermath of last month's twin earthquakes in Türkiye's southeast.
"Türkiye will never forget the solidarity, unity and fraternity of the Turkic world and is grateful for support during the recent earthquake disaster in the southeast," Erdoğan told the Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Ankara on Thursday.
He also said they were pleased to see the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as an observer state for the first time at the summit.
He noted that Türkiye aims to set up 100,000 containers for earthquake survivors until May and that Qatar has already sent 3,000 and plans to send another 7,000 by the end of March.
"The member-states of the Organization of Turkic States were the fastest to respond and mobilize in response to our call and sincerely share our pain following the Feb. 6 disaster," the president said, adding that OTS members mobilized their search and rescue teams, sent humanitarian aid and strived to fulfill the meets of their brothers and sisters in quake-hit areas.
The OTS, formerly called the Turkic Council, is an international organization comprising major independent Turkic countries that work together to elevate relations and the union among themselves. Its members are Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, while Hungary, Turkmenistan, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have observer status.
