Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye is pushing for two more border gates to be opened into northwest Syria, which was devastated following Monday's earthquakes.
Speaking to reporters in a joint news conference with Vice President Fuat Oktay on Wednesday, Çavuşoğlu said the Cilvegözü gate is already open, but more is required amid the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
"This is not a political but a humanitarian issue," he said, adding that Türkiye also provides necessary support to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches Syria by allowing the use of its airspace and more.
The death toll in Syria from Monday's earthquakes surpassed 2,600, according to Syrian state media and a rescue service operating in the opposition-held northwest as of Wednesday.
The war-ravaged country has called on the United Nations and all member states to help with rescue efforts, health services, shelter and food aid.
The U.N. said it's "exploring all avenues" to get supplies to opposition-held northwestern Syria, and it released $25 million from its emergency fund to help kick-start the humanitarian response in Türkiye and Syria.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the road leading to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Türkiye to northern Syria was damaged, temporarily disrupting aid delivery to the opposition-held areas. He said the border crossing itself "is actually intact."
Bab al-Hawa is the only crossing through which U.N. aid is allowed into the area.
Dujarric said the U.N. is preparing a convoy to cross the conflict lines within Syria. But that would likely require a new agreement with Bashar Assad's government, which has laid siege to opposition-held areas throughout the civil war.
In Türkiye, Dujarric said, Syrian refugees make up more than 1.7 million of the 15 million people inhabiting the 10 provinces impacted by the earthquake.
