Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the number of earthquake victims in the country has reached 35,418 people, he said after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, reports.

At the same time, he described the scale and destructiveness of earthquakes as an exceptional natural phenomenon.

"I wish mercy to each of my 35,418 dead citizens. I wish healing to the 105,505 injured who were rescued," Erdogan said.

In the morning of February 6, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred in the Pazarcik area near the town of Marash in Turkey at 04:17 local time.  About 42 aftershocks were counted, the strongest of which had magnitude 6.6. Later another earthquake with magnitude 7.5 was recorded.

Seven days of mourning were declared in Turkey.