Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has held a press conference in these hours to take stock of search and rescue operations and the supply of humanitarian aid to the survivors of the 6 February earthquake. On the occasion, he responded to criticisms of the delay in mobilizing the armed forces.

There are "a total of 4,662 sorties that took place through the aid corridor by 65 aircraft and 70 helicopters and drones". In addition, 5 planes and 18 helicopters have been assigned to aid workers based in the US, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the UK, Qatar and Norway who "use them to support relief efforts and deliver aid", Akar said.

The minister stressed that he immediately activated his units, soldiers, civilian and technical personnel. In particular, he recalled that the earthquake occurred at 4:17 am and at 4:30 am all the armed forces had already been alerted. Subsequently, despite the difficulties and bad weather conditions, the first flights were arranged to transfer the AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) intervention teams to the earthquake zones.