US To Send $85 Million In Aid For Earthquake-Hit Turkey, Syria

The Biden Administration said on Thursday it's committed "to do all we can" to assist the victims of devastating earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss additional assistance the U.S can provide to support Turkish relief efforts, Spokesperson Ned Price told a daily press briefing.

"We want to make sure that what we are providing is specifically tailored to what our Turkish allies need most on the ground right now," Price said in response to TURAN's questions of Washington's efforts.

"We are still in this acute and, to your point, very urgent search-and-rescue phase. That will evolve in the coming days, in the coming weeks, and what our Turkish allies need now will be different from what they need a week from now or two weeks from now. The same is very true on the part of the Syrian people," Price added.

U.S. support to-date includes deployment of over 150 people as part of two highly trained urban search and rescue teams to one of the hardest hit areas and airlift missions by U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in support to rescue operations.

Blinken, in a separate statement on Thursday night, announced $85 million in urgent humanitarian assistance to support these efforts.

"Two of our most highly trained Urban Search and Rescue Teams are conducting operations in support of Turkish rescue efforts in Adiyaman, one of the hardest hit areas" Blinken noted. "These teams have specialized equipment and canines for search and rescue operations.  Joining them are emergency managers, hazardous materials technicians, engineers, logisticians, paramedics, and planners"

In both Türkiye and Syria, the U.S. "will remain committed to doing whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to provide necessary assistance to those impacted by these earthquakes," Blinken noted.

"The United States will continue to support the people of Türkiye and Syria, and we welcome and encourage support from our international partners in this time of great need," he concluded.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.