Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement at offered condolences to Iraq and said Turkey is "ready to help" through the Disaster Management Agency and the Red Crescent.
"Turkey stands ready to provide search and rescue teams & send humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in Iraq. Our thoughts and prayers are with our Iraqi brothers and sisters," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu wrote on Twitter.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ told broadcaster 24 TV that a paramedic team and rescue teams would be dispatched to the disaster area “by a military cargo plane in a few hours.” Akdağ added that another team is en route from the Silopi district of Turkey’s Şırnak province to take tents to the area.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said a total of 3,000 tents, 3,000 blankets and supplies of food were “immediately” sent by the Turkish Red Crescent to Iraq’s north. He added that 4000 more blankets from Turkey’s southeastern provinces Muş and Diyarbakır were directed to the Habur border gate.
Turkish Health Minister Ahmet Demircan has offered assistance to northern Iraq.
Some 316 members of the National Medical Rescue Team and emergency response teams are ready to aid and offer assistance to northern Iraq if a demand comes, Health Minister Ahmet Demircan said.
The Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on Nov. 13 saying Turkey was ready to help if Iran needed any assistance.
"Due to the Iraq-based violent quake that happened last night, it has been with great sadness found out that the Iranian province of Kermnashah, on the border with Iraq, has been severely affected, and there are many fatal incidents and injured," Hurriyet Daily cited the ministry as saying.
The health minister also said a total of 40 ambulances are ready to help, with 4,200 sickbeds and 217 intensive care units ready in various Turkish hospitals.
