Turkey to send medical equipment to Israel, Armenia

Turkey will send medical equipment to Israel and medicine to Armenia, both its regional rivals, as part of the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a senior Turkish official has said, highlighting the Turkish government's sensitivity when it comes to humanitarian issues.

"There was a demand for medicine from Armenia. Our president has approved this demand and our Health Ministry is running the process," İbrahim Kalın, the presidential spokesperson and chief advisor to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told private broadcaster CNNTürk in an interview on April 12.

Kalın did not give details about Armenia's demand and whether the medicine would be donated or sold.

Neighboring Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, with sealed borders due to the latter's occupation of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh province in 1993. The two nations are also at odds over Armenia's description of the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians during the World War I as genocide.

Turkey also facilitated the return of around 100 Armenians to home via Georgia last week. Erdoğan had a phone conversation with the Istanbul-based Armenian Patriarch Sahak II over the state of the affairs of the Patriarchate in the wake of the coronavirus as well as the needs of the Armenian community in Turkey.

Equipment to be sent to Israel, Palestine

Kalın also informed that Israel has demanded medical equipment for the fight against the pandemic.

"I think [the process] will be accomplished in the coming days. We will send [medical equipment] simultaneously to Palestine as well," he said. Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca also confirmed the Israeli demand on April 10 and underline Turkey's intentions to meet the demands both from...