Turkish FM: Azerbaijani rescuers were last to leave quake zone

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that Azerbaijani rescuers were the last to leave the earthquake zone.

He made the remarks at a recent press conference in Malatya, Report informs.

According to him, local rescuers continue to work around the clock.

"The brigades that arrived from other countries have already returned. Azerbaijani rescuers were the last to leave the earthquake zone," the minister stressed.

He added that a total of 11,000 people from 90 countries of the world took part in search and rescue operations in Türkiye .

On February 6, two strong earthquakes occurred in the south-east of Türkiye , one of which was with an epicenter in the Pazarcik area of the city of Kahramanmaras with a magnitude of 7.7, the second - 9 hours later - in the Elbistan area of the same city with a magnitude of 7.6. The natural disaster caused huge destruction and thousands of victims in Türkiye and Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a seven-day mourning period in the country in memory of the victims. In addition, in 10 provinces of the country where the earthquake occurred, a state of emergency was declared for a period of three months.

This event has gone down in history as the strongest earthquake recorded in Türkiye since 1939. Immediately after the earthquakes, the collection of aid to the fraternal country began in Azerbaijan.