Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Monday hailed Malaysia's support and solidarity in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that killed over 50,000 people in the country’s southeast last month.
"As the nation and the state continue to tackle (the effects from) the earthquakes by mobilizing all our might, Malaysia has been among the countries that supported us from the very first moment," Akar told reporters at a news conference with his Malaysian counterpart Utama Mohamad bin Haji Hasan in the capital Ankara.
Akar further stated that Malaysia's relief efforts were "a reflection of the friendship and brotherhood between the two countries."
Emphasizing the common past and shared values between the two countries, Akar said: "Our relations are extremely constructive and positive; they have gained momentum in recent years. Our ties are based on friendship and brotherhood."
The minister also described their meeting as “very productive and constructive” where they exchanged views on bilateral and regional issues, as well as cooperation in military training and the defense industry.
Before the news conference, Akar welcomed Hasan with a military ceremony at the National Defense Ministry as part of Hasan’s official trip to Ankara.
After the ceremony, the pair had a tete-a-tete meeting and later co-chaired inter-delegation talks.
Meanwhile, Hasan said that Malaysia had set up a field hospital in the quake-hit Adıyaman province and that the Malaysian government would further donate equipment and material for the facility.
Türkiye received a flurry of high-ranking visitors since the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors struck 11 of its southeastern provinces on Feb. 6, claiming 50,096 lives and injuring 107,204.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim too was among the first state heads to make the trip of solidarity to Ankara to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and visit quake-hit Gaziantep to view relief efforts on the ground.
Malaysia additionally dispatched a total of 75 members of its Special Search and Rescue Team (SMART) right after the disaster hit while Malaysian citizens, businesses, official institutions and nongovernmental organizations raised funds for the victims.
