ATHENS – Setting aside boiling differences between them that have reached a near-conflict level, Greece has offered assistance for Turkey in the wake of an earthquake on the Syrian border that killed hundreds and many not accounted for.

“Profoundly saddened by the loss of life and damage following the devastating earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria,” Greece’s Foreign Ministry posted on Twitter about the tragedy.

“Our thoughts are with the victims’ families, the injured and the rescue crews fighting to save lives. Greece has mobilized its resources and is ready to provide assistance,” it added, as it had during a 1999 earthquake in Turkey.

“We still don’t know if the 7.7 Richter earthquake that hit southern Türkiye on Monday morning (Feb. 6) was the main one,” Professor and President of the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organisation of Greece, Efthymios Lekkas, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA).

“It’s a very big earthquake and its consequences will be multiple,” Lekkas said adding that it occured in a large fault that starts in Lebanon and goes all the way to the Black Sea.

Lekkas said it’s unlikely however that it would affect faults in the Greek area nor was it related to the 4.2 Richter earthquake that occurred on the island of Rhodes.

The European Union is sending rescue teams and preparing further help for Turkey after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed hundreds of people, the bloc’s crisis management commissioner.

“Teams from the Netherlands and Romania are already on their way,” with the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre overseeing their deployment, commissioner Janez Lenarcic tweeted, said Ahram Online.