As condolences poured in and countries mobilized support, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has been engaged in intense diplomatic contacts since the deadly Feb. 6 earthquakes in southern Türkiye.
Çavuşoğlu has held 23 meetings and more than 70 phone calls with ministers, foreign diplomats, and senior representatives of international organizations.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaraş and struck 10 other provinces-Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Şanlıurfa.
More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes, while the death toll is now over 44,200.
Çavuşoğlu met with Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, foreign minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), on Feb. 9, followed by meetings with Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, on Feb. 10 and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on Feb. 11.
On Feb. 12, Çavuşoğlu met his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in the quake-hit Hatay province, where he thanked Greece for its support during "such difficult times."
On Feb. 13, Çavuşoğlu held separate talks Equatorial Guinea Foreign Minister Angue Simeon and Libya's Najla Elmangoush in the capital Ankara.
In a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Ankara on Feb. 14, Çavuşoğlu praised Israel's "serious" support in search and rescue efforts in Kahramanmaras.
"Israel is one of the first countries that sent support to Türkiye," said Çavuşoğlu.
On the same day, Çavuşoğlu held a meeting with Nechirvan Barzani, head of northern Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).
On Feb. 15, he met Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Jordan's Ayman Safadi, and Florent Ntsiba, state minister and director of the Presidential Cabinet of Congo, in Ankara.
On Feb. 16, Çavuşoğlu met Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Arnoldo Andre Tinoco and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who traveled to Türkiye to extend solidarity and support.
"Our NATO allies immediately sent support to Türkiye after the earthquake," Çavuşoğlu said.
On Feb. 18, Uzbekistan's Acting Foreign Minister Bahtiyor Saidov paid a visit to Ankara, where Çavuşoğlu hailed Uzbekistan for standing by Türkiye at a challenging time.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to Türkiye on Feb. 19-20 to express solidarity and convey Washington's support.
Çavuşoğlu and Blinken conducted an aerial inspection of the quake-hit region.
On Feb. 20, they held a joint news conference in Ankara, where Blinken said he was "profoundly saddened" by the devastation.
Later that day, Çavuşoğlu held a joint news conference with his North Macedonian counterpart Bujar Osmani, as well as Helga Schmid, secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Çavuşoğlu hosted Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu on Feb. 21, as well as Jang Sung-min, special representative of the president of South Korea.
On Feb. 22, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and Johan Forssell, the international development minister of Sweden, paid a visit to Ankara.
On Feb. 23, Çavuşoğlu held separate meetings with Hissein Brahim Taha, secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Muhammad Musa Bello, Nigeria's federal capital territory minister and special presidential envoy.
The same day, Çavuşoğlu held a joint news conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bouhabib and Ali Hamie, Lebanon's transport minister, who visited Ankara to voice solidarity with Türkiye.
Besides meetings and phone calls, Çavuşoğlu has also received more than 100 messages of solidarity and support.
