Syria has followed Turkey in requesting urgent assistance from the European Union to deal with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said.

"We have received a request from the Syrian government," Lenarcic said at a press conference in Brussels.

He said the European Commission has called on European Union states to provide the requested assistance.

The European Union has no direct contacts with the Syrian government, against which it has imposed sanctions. As European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari explained the day before, the EU provides aid through humanitarian organizations, not directly to the Syrian authorities.