The United States will support Türkiye "for as long as it takes", Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a trip to the country two weeks after earthquakes devastated large areas of its south.
Key points:
- Rescue work is beginning to wind down two weeks after earthquakes killed more than 46,000 people across Türkiye and north-west Syria
- Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States would provide long-term help
- The World Food Programme has been pressuring authorities in Syria to stop blocking access to the region
The United States sent a search-and-rescue team to Türkiye, along with medical supplies, concrete-breaking machinery and additional funding of $123 million in humanitarian aid that also covers Syria.
Türkiye stepped up work to clear away rubble from collapsed buildings on Monday, as rescue work wound down two weeks after the major earthquakes killed more than 46,000 people in southern Türkiye and north-west Syria.
Türkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said that nearly 13,000 excavators, cranes, trucks and other industrial vehicles had been sent to the quake zone.
The death toll in Türkiye had risen to 41,020, AFAD said, and it was expected to climb, with some 385,000 apartments in the country known to have been destroyed or seriously damaged and many people still missing.
Among the survivors of the February 6 earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria are about 356,000 pregnant women who urgently need access to reproductive health services, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) said at the weekend.
The women include 226,000 in Türkiye and 130,000 in Syria, about 38,800 of whom will deliver in the next month.
It said many of the women were sheltering in camps or were living exposed to freezing temperatures and struggling to get food or clean water.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said a convoy of 14 of its trucks had entered north-western Syria on Sunday to assist in earthquake rescue operations, as concerns grew over lack of access to the war-ravaged area.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has been pressuring authorities in that region to stop blocking access as it seeks to help hundreds of thousands of people in the wake of the earthquakes.
In Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, most deaths have been in the north-west.
The area is controlled by insurgents at war with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, which has complicated efforts to get aid to people.
'A long-term effort'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday announced further aid to Türkiye and said the United States would provide longer-term help.
Mr Blinken arrived at Türkiye's Incirlik Air Force Base on Sunday for an official visit and discussions on how Washington could further assist.
Two weeks after the disaster struck, search-and-rescue operations are coming to an end, but Mr Blinken said the United States would continue to help what he said would be "a long-term effort".
"When you see the extent of the damage, the number of buildings, the number of apartments, the number of homes that have been destroyed, it is going to take a massive effort to rebuild but we are committed to supporting Türkiye in that effort," he said.
Relations between the NATO allies have been strained since 2019, when Ankara acquired Russian S-400 missile defence systems, among other sources of tension between them.
"The United States and Türkiye do not agree on every issue but it is a partnership that has withstood against challenges," Mr Blinken later told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara on Monday.
Mr Çavuşoğlu told reporters he had discussed a planned $US29 billion ($42 billion) deal for US F-16 warplanes with Mr Blinken, and said that Türkiye would like the US administration to send the formal notification for the F-16s to Congress.
He added that Ankara expected support from Congress to push through the deal.
Standing alongside Mr Blinken, Mr Çavuşoğlu said it was not possible for Türkiye to purchase F-16 warplanes with pre-conditions and that he believed the issue could be overcome if the US administration maintained a decisive stance.
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Reuters