Turkey offers to help Greece following powerful earthquake

Duvar English

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said that Ankara is ready to help Greece following a powerful earthquake in the country.

Expressing solidarity with Greece, Çavuşoğlu on March 3 said that he held a phone call with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. 

Çavuşoğlu made the phone call during his meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, who is on an official visit to the capital Ankara.

"Standing ready to assist our neighbor if need be," he said on Twitter.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck central Greece on March 3, sending people rushing from their houses but drawing no immediate reports of casualties or significant damage.

The quake, which was felt across the country, struck close to Tyrnavos, a town about 230 km (140 miles) north of Athens, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The USGS said the magnitude was 6.3, while the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) put it 6.2, revising earlier reports that suggested the tremor was as much as 6.9.

Athens and Ankara showed similar solidarity and pledged mutual aid after strong quakes shook the Aegean region in October last year.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the time to offer condolences for the deaths of over 110 people in İzmir.