Staff Correspondent
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had a telephone conversation yesterday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to express solidarity with the government and people of Turkey, and to give assurance of additional support.
Momen conveyed to the Turkish foreign minister that Bangladesh is sending 10,000 tents in addition to the 2,000 already sent, for earthquake victims, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also requested his Turkish counterpart to let Bangladesh know if they need anything else, adding that Bangladesh wants to send construction workers for reconstruction efforts in the affected areas. “We are truly devastated by the scale of destruction and deaths. We express our wholehearted condolence and also, as your brother, we will try to assist you as much as we can. This is a great shock to all of us in Bangladesh,” he told his Turkish counterpart during the phone call.
“We can send the construction workers. And whatever you need, let us know and we will try our best,” Momen said
“If we need anything else, we will reach out without hesitation,” the Turkish foreign minister responded, as quoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked Momen for calling and also thanked the government of Bangladesh, including the president, the prime minister, speaker of the parliament and the foreign minister, and the people for their sincere messages of condolence and solidarity.
The Turkish minister also thanked the Bangladesh government for sending search and rescue and medical teams and said this is what the country needed urgently at this moment.
Foreign Minister Momen wanted to know about the situation, to which his Turkish counterpart said the situation is not stable yet and is in fact far worse than what people are seeing on TV.
“We lost more than 35,000 people and there are people under the rubble that we couldn’t reach. We are doing our best to normalise life, to provide temporary shelter, and we are planning reconstruction of the region affected by the earthquake,” said the Turkish foreign minister.
He also expressed concerns about the Bangladeshi citizens who were wounded and wished them quick recovery. Momen informed that two Bangladeshi students have been rescued from the rubble and are now doing fine.

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