Turkey and Syria Earthquake

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Tuesday 7th February 2023

(1 year, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Cleverly Portrait James Cleverly
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The hon. Lady makes a very important point, and it is one that I raised in my last bilateral meeting with Martin Griffiths. As she said, this has had a significant detrimental effect on the international community’s ability to provide humanitarian support to some of the neediest people in the world, particularly in winter and in the light of these earthquakes. I can assure her that when I speak with Martin Griffiths later today, this is one of the topics we will discuss.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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This is a stark reminder of the importance of resilience and our ability to deal with these acute events if they happen to us or to help others. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement. As he knows, the first 72 hours are critical. Military assistance has been mentioned. We have assets in Cyprus, including rotary systems, that could be put to use. Could we offer those to the Turkish authorities in this critical period?