Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias attended a memorial service in Istanbul to commemorate the recent earthquakes in Türkiye and the train tragedy in Greece Sunday.
Dendias attended the Feast of Orthodoxy (The Sunday of Orthodoxy) -- the first Sunday of Great Lent -- at the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.
Worshippers also prayed for the victims of the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, as well as for the Greece train-crash victims.
Head of Cyprus' Orthodox Church Archbishop Georgios also attended the ceremony.
Dendias will be received by Istanbul's Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew.
The passenger train collided head-on with a commercial train traveling on the same track. The passenger train, the Inter City 62, had departed from the Greek capital at 7:22 p.m. (17.22 GMT) last Tuesday evening.
Some 350 passengers were said to have been on board. At least 47 people have been confirmed dead by Greek authorities.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan extended his condolences to Greece Wednesday over the fatal train crash that claimed the lives of dozens.
"Stating that he is deeply saddened by the train crash, President Erdoğan extended his condolences for those who lost their lives and wished a speedy recovery to the injured," said a statement by Türkiye's Communications Directorate following a message from the Turkish leader to Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Greece has also expressed solidarity with Türkiye immediately following the earthquake in the country's south.
Dendias was one of the first foreign ministers to visit Türkiye after the disaster and received a warm welcome when he met his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, reiterating his country’s support for earthquake relief.
Despite a history of rivalry with Türkiye that goes back centuries, Greece was also among the first European countries to send rescue workers and humanitarian aid on Feb. 6, a few hours after the disaster. Territorial and energy disputes have exacerbated regional tension. Still, the two neighbors, both situated on seismic fault lines, have a tradition of helping each other during natural disasters.
The Greek government has sent at least 80 tons of medical and first aid equipment. Thousands of Greeks have responded to calls for aid to quake-hit Türkiye, reviving memories of how a spontaneous outpouring of help after a similar disaster in 1999 brought the neighbors together when they seemed to be on the brink of war.
The earthquakes also prompted the first contact between Mitsotakis and Erdoğan in months.
