ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2020) Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, held a conversation over the phone on Monday to discuss the current state of coronavirus outbreak in Iran as well as a Sunday earthquake that hit both countries.
"A telephone conversation took place between the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Javad Zarif. Zarif expressed condolences to Cavusoglu over the earthquake in Van province, which caused human casualties. The parties also discussed the coronavirus situation," the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman told Sputnik.
Iran has been experiencing an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, with 12 deaths reported so far. Iranian health authorities estimated the total number of infected in the country to be around 60.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center registered a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in a Turkish-Iranian border region, affecting Turkey's province of Van. It was followed by a 6.0-magnitude quake on the border, with the health minister saying that nine people were killed and 50 others injured in Turkey. The number of people injured in Iran's Khoy County as a result of these two earthquakes has reached 104.
