The death toll recorded in Turkey and northwestern Syria surpassed 29,000 on Sunday.

Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani has met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Sunday as the first leader to visit Turkey following last week’s deadly earthquakes.

Earlier, the Amiri Diwan said the Qatari leader is on a “working visit” to the country, which comes less than a week since two deadly earthquakes had struck Turkey and Syria.

Speaking to Qatar’s news agency (QNA), Ankara’s ambassador to Doha Mustafa Goksu said the visit “is a remarkable message of solidarity” from the Gulf state.

Goksu said that the meeting between Amir Tamim and Erdogan will focus on enhancing rescue and relief operations and the reconstruction of destroyed areas.

Just hours after the earthquake, Sheikh Tamim held a phone call with Erdogan where he expressed his condolences to the people of Turkey.

The Qatari leader then ordered the launch of an air bridge to the affected areas while dispatching more than 120 personnel of the Qatar International Search and Rescue Group of the Internal Security Force , Lekhwiya.

The flights sent to the impacted areas were equipped with field hospitals, relief aid, tents, medical and winter supplies. Qatar also sent 10,000 mobile homes.

On Friday, the amir also donated QAR 50 million ($14 million) to earthquake victims on live television during the Oun and Sanad campaign.

The campaign successfully gathered QAR 168,015,836 (around $19 million).