ANKARA, April 27. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanked Russia for its assistance to earthquake victims in the country.

"On behalf of my people, I would like to thank Russia for the field hospital it has set up in Hatay," he said during the ceremony to mark the delivery of nuclear fuel to Turkey’s first NPP, which he attended via a videolink from Ankara.

The earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 occurred on February 6 with nine-hour intervals in Kahramanmaras province in southeastern Turkey. Tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in neighboring countries, of which Syria was the most affected. More than 49,500 people died in Turkey.

The Hatay province was the hardest hit by the earthquakes of February 6. In the first days after the disaster, the Russian Emergencies Ministry sent doctors and rescuers to Turkey to remove the rubble. An air mobile hospital was also deployed. A group of Russian rescuers worked in the province of Kahramanmaras and neighboring regions. On March 19, the Russian Health Ministry's airmobile hospital was dispatched to Hatay to assist earthquake victims.