Balkans | Minister Soylu met Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Mitrakis

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitrakis met in Hatay.

Minister Soylu said, “In the early days of the earthquake, we had 133 Greek search and rescue teams with us in this difficult time. Then they sent more than 700 tents to Turkey. We express our gratitude to Greece, the Greek people and the government.” On the other hand, the Greek minister said: “The issue that interested me was the speed with which the Turkish state, the Turkish government, moved. “Temporary solutions that are found in less than two months after a disaster, which are very rare even in this world, are wonderful,” he said.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu made a statement after a meeting with Mr. Mitrakis, Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, at the AFAD Coordination Center. Minister Soylu said: “In the early days of the earthquake, 133 Greek search and rescue teams were with us in this difficult time. Then they sent more than 700 tents to Turkey. On behalf of our country, our nation and the earthquake victims, we would like to express our gratitude to Greece, the Greek people and the government on these issues. Today, the Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, together with our Deputy Minister Ismail Bey (Chatakli), conducted weather and other earthquake investigations. The people of Greece conveyed their condolences to us, and together we assessed what support they could provide from now on. Of course, they were also affected by what they saw. We informed them on this occasion of what kind of picture we faced for 58 days and what we are trying to do here. At the same time, this support and aid came from many countries of the world. With your presence, we would like to express our gratitude once again for all this humanitarian aid.”

‘We’ve reached 60 percent of the volume’

Giving information about the works in the earthquake zone, Minister Soylu said, “The number of tents we have erected has reached 650,000. As of today, the container installation has exceeded 50 thousand. Besides all these, nearly 20,000 portable toilets and nearly 10,000 portable toilets have been installed in these areas. Millions of meals a day are still going on in this region. We told them that we are in the month of Ramadan and we are constantly managing preparations for it, whether iftar or suhoor. They saw debris working at the site as well as from the air. On the subject of debris studies, we have seen the works in Hatay, in the air and on the ground, in Antakya, especially in Al-Hassa and its burial yesterday. 13 thousand trucks work in the wreck every day. So far, 10,000 of the 26,000 collapsed and urgently demolished buildings have been destroyed, and the demolition of the building that needs urgent demolition has also been completed. In terms of volume, we’re up to about 60 percent. I think we’ve done our assessment on other provinces before. We will have completed the first stage of work, that is, the stage of immediate demolition and demolition until Eid Al-Fitr, and the second stage of work, which is the other emergency in the field to be demolished, and more precisely the stage related to severely damaged buildings, started immediately in the coming period, and we will speed up our turn on it. On the one hand, we are increasing our temporary accommodations. On the other hand, the foundations are specially laid for the construction of new homes. Elections of signatories were held and here, especially in all the provinces, townspeople and leaders of opinion gathered together.

“We brought in 65,000 collapsible containers from China”

Explaining that 65 thousand containers were brought from China, Minister Soylu concluded his words as follows: “I believe that our container facilities in the countryside will start in 10-15 days. For this purpose, we brought a collapsible type of container from China, which is not available in Turkey. 65 thousand units 50 thousand plus 15 thousand In addition to this, we also put toilets and portable showers. Of course, they will also have kitchens. Regarding this, we will establish them in the area they want in order to maintain agricultural life in our villages and to ensure that they can survive where Hmm. We continue to do all the work there as well as liquidation work. On the one hand, we also provide this. So far we’ve built close to 10,000 temporary workplaces, some in the form of dealers. This is one of our last works. We’ve completed up to To 5,000 of these so far. With the rules, our merchants have started shopping here. We continue to work on the fact that 5,000 of them can be completed by the last week of the holiday. This is also a step towards the normalization of the city. Our national ministries of education, health and related ministries are doing serious work on Its own domains. We continue to confirm the entire system, from spraying cities to food control, one by one every day.”

Amazing temporary solutions

Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum Notis Mitrakis stated that they took action after the earthquake and said:

Greece has sent search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid here. I had the chance to see a very small area affected by the earthquake from the air with a helicopter. Of course, this is only a small percentage of the damage. Another issue that caught my attention was the speed with which the Turkish state, the Turkish government, moved. The solutions found in less than two months after the disaster, which are so rare even in this world, are remarkable. Greece and the international arena will help the region’s recovery. This is a difficult and demanding job, but it will get done. I also had the chance to see the Syrian refugee center. The management and organization that is here was really great. I’ve said this publicly before. The European Union and Europe should help Türkiye in the field of migration. Because Türkiye has shouldered a huge burden regarding this issue. These issues were not the reason for my visit. The reason for our visit was friendship. We want him to stay with that though. This visit, which we also had with the defense ministers, shows the two countries’ commitment to improving their relations.”

DHA