MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

                                                                                                                           

Unofficial Translation  

                                                                                                               September 13, 2005  

 

PRESS RELEASE  

Immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, claiming countless lives and inflicting immense material damage, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of the Republic of Turkey conveyed, to their respective counterparts, their sincere condolences and heartfelt sympathy for the victims of this tragic disaster and expressed the readiness on the part of the Turkish Government and the Turkish people to provide humanitarian assistance to heal the wounds of the disaster.  

The readiness on the part of  the Government of Turkey to come up with any possible assistance in the face of the disaster was also conveyed by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.  

The Government of Turkey today announced its decision to provide a combination of cash and assistance in kind, amounting to 2.5 million U.S. Dollars, to help the U.S. cope with the consequences of the disaster, effective immediately. The portion of the total assistance which amounts to 1.5 million U.S. Dollars has already been transferred to the relevant account of the U.S. Red Cross. The remaining portion of the total assistance, in kind, will be shipped to the U.S.  

Furthermore, efforts are underway by the Turkish Red Crescent to provide additional humanitarian assistance to the U.S.