Turkish leader makes first tsunami zone stop

Turkish leader makes first tsunami zone stop

Irwan Firdaus Associated Press/Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (photo, right) speaks with an Acehnese child at a clinic run by the Turkish Red Crescent near the tsunami-hit city of Banda Aceh.

On Sunday, the first stop of his five-nation tour of the disaster zone, Erdogan -- the fifth foreign leader to tour Aceh -- was greeted at the airport in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, by Indonesian Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and 30 of about 200 Turkish aid workers sent there by the Turkish Red Crescent Society.

During a visit to devastated Lhoknga village, Erdogan said Turkey had "a humanitarian and Islamic duty to serve here," having experienced its own tragedy when two earthquakes killed about 18,000 people in 1999.

"The needs we see here -- the schools, housing, orphanages, hospitals -- we will do our best to assist," said Erdogan, who hours later headed to Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Turkey has pledged US$1.25 million to the relief effort.

The Red Crescent Society mission arrived 10 days after the Dec. 26 earthquake, setting up a clinic west of Banda Aceh. They delivered 15,000 tons of food and aid, and plan to sponsor the reconstruction of 1,000 homes for tsunami survivors.

Turkey's help has won admirers among the Acehnese, who live in one of Indonesia's most devoutly Muslim regions.

"Lots of countries' people came, but Turkey stayed. Turkey is an Islamic country so we are happier to receive from them," said Haji Maimun, an Indonesian disaster management official.

Also Sunday, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot arrived in Aceh to assess relief needs.

The Netherlands -- Indonesia's colonial ruler for more than three centuries -- donated $514 million and has offered prefabricated bridges to temporarily fill gaps in highways.

Last week, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah visited the area.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong toured the area in January, as did UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.