jets to ukraine. we start with the devastating earthquakes which have rocked southern turkey and northern syria and are now known to have killed more than 11,700 people. turkey s president erdogan has been defending his government s response to the disaster on a visit to some of the worst affected areas. we ll have more on that shortly. but first, with the search operations ongoing in the rubble of collapsed buildings, dramatic pictures continue to emerge of rescues in both countries. cheering. this was the moment that rescuers hauled a boy onto a stretcher moments after he was rescued from the rubble two days after the earthquake. there were also cheers ofjubilation at being able to save his life. there have been other glimmers of hope in an otherwise grim landscape of devastation and death. our correspondent, anna foster, has been in the village of karamanmaras. i was watching them take bodies out of here last night and again this morning. it is pulling aside all of this
alma hassoun, is from bbc arabic. many police here and the bbc and many people i know have been holding their breath, waiting to hear news about their families, their breath, waiting to hear news about theirfamilies, friends, and neighbours. inside syria and also southern turkey, as there are many syrian refugees in turkey who are also affected by that catastrophe. of course because let s face it, we ve been staying over 4 million people from syria have been displaced because of the conflict. and now they are finding themselves in this terrible situation again. it in this terrible situation again. it is important to mention as well that this time, many syrians and government health areas and also in opposition have areas that are in the same boat in this very crisis because of course in the north as we saw in the footage, and also in
platforms. and he is blocking it these days. what else exactly is he trying to do? what is his government trying to do? what is his government trying to do? our party again criticised this. our vice president went to the relevant party and the government to ask them what really they are aiming for doing this. and also, they are detaining people, citizens, intellectuals, journalists and academics who are critical of government. some of this is a usual practice in turkey under the government for the last two decades and increasing its intensity during the elections, during the disaster times, crisis times. so physically repressing the opposition. from the o- osition, repressing the opposition. from the opposition. the repressing the opposition. from the opposition, the president repressing the opposition. from the opposition, the president of - repressing the opposition. from the opposition, the president of the - opposition, the president of the ears representation for the republica