ISTANBUL (Today’s Zaman) — Armenia has sent a plane carrying goods to Turkey to help with the aftermath of the Van quake last week.
Gagik Kostandyan, an official from Armenia, said at Erzerum’s airport, where the aid plane had landed on Friday afternoon, that President Serge Sargisian had called President Abdullah Gül and expressed Armenia’s readiness to send aid.
Kostandyan said the Armenian government had sent 111 tents, 4,345 blankets, 36 beds and 474 sleeping bags.
The Armenian official said Turkey did not accept food aid but asked for tents, recalling that Armenia had also sent aid to Turkey after the 1999 earthquake but that this was the first time that Armenians had come to Turkey with aid. “We are ready to offer every kind of support if needed. We would like the two countries to enjoy good relations. This is a humanitarian aid. We are two neighboring countries,” Kostandyan stressed.
