The EU executive will give €1 billion to help with reconstruction efforts in Turkey after last month's devastating earthquakes, the head of the European Commission said.
More than 56,000 people were killed in Turkey and neighbouring Syria following the 6 February earthquakes.
"Millions are now homeless and living in tents as the winter drags on," Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told a conference held to drum up support for survivors.
"Homes and schools and hospitals must be rebuilt, with the highest standards of seismic safety. Water and sanitation and other critical infrastructure must be repaired. Public services and businesses need capital to restart."
She said the European Commission would spend a further €108 million on humanitarian assistance and early recovery in Syria, where the European Union does not have diplomatic ties with President Bashar al-Assad over a war that started in 2011.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) estimated the "total financial burden of the earthquake disaster" for Turkey at some €96.6 billion and said that amounted to 9% of the country's GDP forecast for 2023.
The @EU_Commission will support the people in Türkiye with €1 billion for reconstruction.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 20, 2023
We will also provide €108 million for humanitarian aid and early recovery in Syria.
Additional pledges are expected from #TeamEurope#TogetherForSyria#TogetherForTurkiye pic.twitter.com/eXo612thWW
Addressing the Brussels conference via videolink, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put the cost of the earthquake at €97 billion, saying Turkey would rebuild 319,000 homes in the first year.
"It is not possible for a single nation to tackle a crisis of this scale on its own," he said. "We will never forget the solidarity that all our friends ... have shown in these difficult days."
The EU has long accused Mr Erdogan of human rights violations and the bloc's ties with Turkey are tense over Ankara's crackdown on dissent following a 2016 coup.
More recently, Turkey had blocked a bid by Sweden - an EU member – to join NATO in the wake of Russia's war against Ukraine.
But the bloc said it mobilised millions worth of immediate help and sent more than 1,500 rescuers to help in the hours and days following the earthquake in Turkey, which also hosts several million refugees from the war in Syria.
EU officials said the conference included some 400 international actors - countries, regional organisations and non-governmental groups. Not invited were the allied Syrian and Russian authorities.
The bloc has extensive sanctions on Damascus in place and said it would only finance humanitarian assistance and early recovery but not full-scale reconstruction for as long as there is no political dialogue between Mr Assad and his adversaries.
