Saudi king orders aid to quake-hit Turkey

Cairo: Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has ordered urgent aid to Turkey for victims of a recent deadly earthquake, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.

The gesture comes amid tensions between several Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and Turkey over the latter’s meddlesome policies in the region.

The humanitarian and medical assistance will be dispatched through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre to the victims of the October 30 quake that hit Turkey’s city of Izmir, SPA added.

The royal gesture aims at easing the consequences of the quake that claimed dozens of lives and caused heavy damage, the agency said.

“It builds on the humanitarian role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by siding with those harmed by different crises and ordeals,” it said.

Last month, Saudis launched a campaign to boycott the Turkish goods over Ankara’s perceived destabilising practices.

The boycott call came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that some countries in the Arabian Gulf were targeting Turkey.