Envoy conveys Pinoys' sympathies after Turkey quakes

After two strong earthquakes devastated Turkey, new Philippine ambassador Marilyn Alarilla expressed the Filipinos' sympathies to Turkish President Abdullah Gul. Alarilla also relayed to Gul the greetings of Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. "(She) conveyed the condolences and deep sympathies of the Philippine Government and the Filipino people on the loss of lives and the physical damage to infrastructure and other properties due to the earthquake in Van Province," the DFA said in a news release. Alarilla conveyed the messages after presenting her letter of credence to Gul last October 26 at the presidential palace. The DFA on Friday said Filipino was hurt or killed in the earthquakes that hit Turkey three weeks apart. In a text message to GMA News Online, DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said there was no report of any Filipino casualty in the incidents— the most recent of which was a magnitude-5.6 quake on Wednesday, with the epicenter in the Edremit district of Van province. Hernandez also said no Filipinos were injured because they were evacuated to safer grounds when an earlier earthquake hit the same area affected by Wednesday's quake. In earlier reports, Hernandez said there are about 1,000 documented Filipinos in Turkey. According to Agence France Presse (AFP), five persons were killed in the earthquake in Turkey on Wednesday. On October 23, more than 600 people died as an earthquake hit Van province. More than 1,450 others were injured. Grateful for Turkish government's assistance Meanwhile, Alarilla also conveyed gratitude for the assistance of the Turkish government for 194 Filipino workers for their safe passage out of Libya early this year. On the other hand, Gul said the Turkish government was pleased to be of help to Filipinos, whom he described as hardworking people. Gul also said Turkey, which signed its accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in July 2010, seeks a more active cooperation with ASEAN. - VVP, GMA News