Turkish people’s pain is Turkish Cypriots’ pain: TRNC president

By Okan Coskun and Ismet Karakas

KAHRAMANMARAS/GAZIANTEP, Türkiye (AA) - Turkish Cypriots share Türkiye’s sorrow, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar said Wednesday during a visit to earthquake-hit provinces in the aftermath of "the disaster of the century."

"Your pain is our pain," said Tatar, who was on a visit to Türkiye’s southeastern Kahramanmaras province, the epicenter of the Feb. 6 quakes.

Tatar paid a visit to a tent city that was set up on Sutcu Imam University’s campus.

"Our hope is that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, together with Türkiye, will grow stronger in the Eastern Mediterranean and offer a future and hope to Turkish Cypriots. Therefore, we believe that Türkiye is strong as it has always been and will dress these wounds," he said.

He wished the quake victims a speedy recovery and distributed bread made by a mobile bakery in the tent city.

Tatar stressed that they have been monitoring developments in homeland Türkiye, saying Turkish Cypriots pray for Türkiye.

Noting that Cyprus is also an seismic zone, Tatar said that by taking the necessary measures in the buildings to be built in the future, no such devastation will be experienced.

Earlier in Gaziantep province, he said: “We are deeply saddened by the martyrdom of tens of thousands of our people in this disaster.”

Noting that Turkish Cypriots in Türkiye were also victims of the “disaster of the century,” Tatar said “35 of our children, including 24 of our young volleyball team stars, their teachers, and some families were martyred in the debris of a hotel.”

“Our citizens lost their lives in other regions as well. We have learned that our citizens who settled in Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Osmaniye and many of their relatives passed away.”

More than 45,000 people have died in the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, which struck 11 provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa and Elazig.

Some 13.5 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the devastating quakes.