<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended his government's response to two catastrophic earthquakes, saying it was impossible to prepare for the scale of the disaster.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At least 15,000 people are confirmed dead in Turkey and northern Syria.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Critics claimed the emergency services' response was too slow and the government was poorly prepared.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Erdogan accepted the government had encountered some problems, but said the situation was now "under control".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The leader of Turkey's main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu disagreed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If there is one person responsible for this, it is Erdogan," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The president rejected the accusation and said unity was required in the aftermath of the disaster, "In a period like this, I cannot stomach people conducting negative campaigns for political interest," he told reporters in Hatay.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In nearby Syria, relief efforts have been complicated by years of conflict that has destroyed the nation's infrastructure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Bab al-Hawa crossing between Turkey and Syria has been closed since the earthquake as the roads were badly damaged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While a senior UN official said the road may soon be accessible, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed the country was working to open two more border gates to help get aid into the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There are some difficulties in terms of Turkey's and the international community's aid [reaching Syria]. For this reason, efforts are being made to open two more border gates," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The EU has confirmed it will send €3.5m (£3.1m) in aid to Syria following a government request for assistance, but said the aid must be delivered to both government- and rebel-controlled areas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 1,500 people have died in Idlib province alone and an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said sanctions were stopping Syria from receiving the aid it needed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We don't have enough bulldozers, we do not have enough cranes, we do not have enough oil due to European and American sanctions," Bouthaina Shabban said. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>