Ankara - Turkey's deputies gave blood and money yesterday after gathering briefly to pledge rapid relief for the victims of the worst earthquake to hit the country in decades.
Hundreds, the dead and the living, remained under the rubble of collapsed buildings as rescuers strained to lift tangled concrete and steel with their bare hands.
"In the face of such a disaster we have marshalled our resources and campaigned to bring the strength of the state to the people there," the Housing Minister, Mr Koray Aydin, told the assembly. The nationalists of Mr Aydin's party said they would each donate $1,140, or 30 percent of their monthly wage, to the aid campaign. Other deputies went to the parliamentary clinic to contribute to a blood drive.