Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi visited the Iraqis at the hospital on Thursday. “We are mobilized for our Iraqi brothers,” Davutoğlu said during the hospital visit, which was scene to emotional moments. When Davutoğlu called an 11-year-old patient “our son,” the boy replied back saying in Turkish “you are my father, too.”
Tuz Khurmatu, a town 180 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, is populated by Turkmens, who share close ethnic and linguistic ties with Turkey. A roadside bomb went off in the town on Sunday, killing five people and wounding dozens of others. Iraqi authorities have asked for medical assistance following the blast and, in response, Turkey sent a military ambulance plane on Wednesday evening to bring 15 wounded people and their families to Ankara.
Davutoğlu got emotional when one of the child patients cried, asking for his mother. He demanded that the mother also be brought to Turkey. “We always stand by Iraq and we will continue to do so,” the foreign minister told reporters following the visit.
Abdul-Mahdi thanked the Turkish government for its support to Iraq in the face of terrorist attacks and said he was happy to see that victims of the Sunday blast are in good hands and receiving good treatment.
Abdul-Mahdi had talks with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late on Wednesday. No statement was made after the meetings.
