GAZIANTEP, Turkey (Reuters) – Two senior German ministers landed in southern Turkey on Tuesday to visit one of the areas hit by a devastating earthquake more than two weeks ago, to underscore Berlin’s support for the victims and reconstruction efforts.
Germany, which is home to the largest Turkish diaspora in the world, has shipped more than 340 tonnes of aid, including tents, blankets and generators to help the survivors of a quake that killed over 47,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser came “to make it clear to the people that our sympathy is not limited to words and will not diminish even if the catastrophe and its aftermath are pushed away by other headlines in the news”, Baerbock said.
A day before they arrived, another quake had killed six people and injured hundreds on the Turkish-Syrian border.
After landing in the city of Gaziantep, the ministers were expected to speak to German aid organisations as well as those affected by the quake, but no talks with Turkish government officials were planned.
The Berlin government also plans to speed up issuing visas for victims of the earthquake who want to visit family members in Germany.
(Reporting by Alexander Ratz; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Alex Richardson)
