Cycling tour in India lauds 'Operation Dost' for helping quake victims

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ANKARA (AA) – A cycling tour was organized in India’s national capital New Delhi on Sunday to applaud "Operation Dost" (Operation Friendship) which was launched by the Indian government to provide relief to earthquake-hit Türkiye and Syria in February.

The cycling event was organized by the Confederation of Indian Cyclists in collaboration with the Turkish Embassy in New Delhi, the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy said that a cycle tour to the iconic India Gate was done today in honor of Operation Dost with participants from all over Delhi.

It thanked the Confederation of Indian Cyclists and everyone who cycled on Sunday morning. The event also saw the participation of National Disaster Response Force members who went to Türkiye to be part of rescue and search operations under Operation Dost.

Earlier, Turkish Ambassador to India Fırat Sunel said India was among the first responders to assist Türkiye in the aftermath of the massive earthquakes and the cycling event is being held in honor of Operation Dost.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa. It claimed more than 50,000 lives.