Epress.am News from Armenia
Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement today in which it said that Turkey has not rejected earthquake relief aid from other countries.
“We don’t hesitate to receive assistance from our friend countries. We haven’t rejected support from other countries. More than 20 countries have offered to assist us and there are many levels at which we can have support. First was the rescue teams, and the second, developing and sustainability work in Van, so we’ll ask for help in these issues from those countries that offered help,” reads the official statement.
Recall, more than 20 countries offered aid to Turkey after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the country’s eastern Van region Sunday. On Monday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked these countries — including Israel and Armenia — for help; however, said it was able to cope with the effects of the earthquake on its own. Turkey accepted offers of help only from Azerbaijan.
Epress.am’s Turkey correspondent states that the 180º turn in Turkey’s position might be tied to the fact that after Erdogan’s remarks, there was serious criticism against the government for refusing humanitarian assistance.