ANKARA, Jan 24 (AFP) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged Turks to be more generous toward his country as it recovers after the tsunami disaster, in an interview in the Turkish newspaper Zaman published Monday.
"We would like the Turkish state and people to be more sensitive to the scourge that has befallen us," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Indonesia was by far the worst hit of the Indian Ocean nations devastated by massive waves that pounded their coastlines following a December 26 earthquake off the island of Sumatra.
Some 174,000 people died in Indonesia out of a total of 227,000 across the region.
In the interview, Yudhoyono recalled the bonds between Indonesia, which has the biggest Muslim population in the world, and Turkey, which also has a large Muslim majority, and urged Ankara "to do more."
Turkish government aid for the tsunami relief effort amounts to about five million dollars, while the Turkish Red Crescent has collected some 5.3 million dollars.
Another appeal, to raise money by text messages, has brought a further 1.8 million dollars, it said.
A Turkish woman was killed in the tsunami while four other Turks are missing in Thailand and one in Sri Lanka.
01/24/2005 09:50 GMT - AFP