President of Religious Affairs Erbaş participates in the aid program that is organized for the earthquake victims on Qatar TV

President of Religious Affairs Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş participated in the live broadcast of aid program that was held on Qatar State Television, Qatar TV tonight for the earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria with the order of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Expressing his gratitude to Qatar for their aid in the donation campaign program themed “Aid and Support”, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş said that natural disasters are the worst times of humanity.

Stating that they are experiencing great pain as a country these days, President Erbaş said, “There was an unpredictable destruction in the earthquakes that occurred in our country and in our neighbour Syria. There were two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6 and hundreds of aftershocks 9 hours apart. It affected hundreds of settlements, especially in 10 major cities. An area of over 100 thousand square kilometres and a geography where 13 and a half million people live were directly exposed to the earthquake.”

“Our response and struggle against the earthquake began from the first moment,”

Noting that it is the fifth day since the earthquake, President Erbaş said that thousands of houses and buildings were destroyed, tens of thousands of citizens lost their lives, tens of thousands were injured, and many people were under the rubble.

Remarking that search and rescue operations are uninterruptedly continued, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş talked as “It is very difficult to describe in words the extent of this earthquake and the disaster it caused. It is not possible for any city or country to stand against such a big disaster. In fact, Türkiye is a country that is prepared for natural disasters, especially earthquakes. We have experienced other earthquakes in the recent past. In this incident, our response and struggle began from the very first moment. But this earthquake we experienced was much bigger, more comprehensive, and more destructive than the previous earthquakes in our country and in the world.”

“Our people will never forget about this sensitivity and these aids”

Expressing his thanks to each of those who sent aid and teams from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and dozens of other countries in this disaster, President of Religious Affairs Erbaş said the following, remarking that our people will never forget about this sensitivity and these aids:

“Likewise, from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia, all countries and all our brothers in this region rushed to help. We saw Qatar, a friendly and brotherly country, standing by us this time as always. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to each of them on behalf of myself and our nation. I would like to express my special gratitude to the esteemed statesman, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and to all the leaders, heads of state, ministers of religious affairs, heads of religious affairs, and muftis who conveyed their condolences and contributed with their help.

Again, I pray for mercy from Almighty Allah (swt) for our brothers and sisters who lost their lives in Türkiye and our neighbouring country, Syria, for patience for their families, and for healing for our wounded brothers and sisters. May the Almighty Allah (swt) protect all of humanity from all kinds of disaster, calamity, and evil.”