The images from the earthquake zones in Turkey and Syria are shocking – many tens of thousands of people have lost their lives and many more are injured or have lost their homes. The German Government has been helping the victims in Turkey and Syria from day one at many different levels – and it continues to provide assistance.

Foreign Minister Baerbock and Federal Interior Minister Faeser want to gain a first-hand impression of the situation on the ground and to assure people of their solidarity and support.

Much of the aid supplies, both for Turkey and for north-western Syria, which has also been badly hit, are being distributed via Gaziantep airport. There the two Ministers will find out more about how the aid supplies are handled and the challenges this presents. Furthermore, they will hand over further aid supplies from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief to the Turkish authorities responsible for disaster management and talk to representatives of the relief organisations and NGOs working in Turkey and Syria.

Subsequently, the two Ministers will travel to Kahramanmaraş region to the north-west, which has also suffered badly, where they will talk to both victims and helpers in the emergency tent camp set up there. At the end of their trip, Foreign Minister Baerbock and Federal Interior Minister Faeser will visit one of the re-opened visa application centres in the region as well as a newly launched mobile visa application bus, which can accept and process visa applications locally in the region.