Turkish Communications Directorate panel discusses 'disaster diplomacy'

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Türkiye's Communications Directorate held a panel Monday in Washington, D.C. to discuss the international solidarity and humanitarian diplomacy following the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes that hit the country’s southern provinces, killing more than 50,000 people.

The panel, titled "Disaster Diplomacy: Recoding International Solidarity for a Resilient World," was moderated by Kilic Bugra Kanat, research director at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), who visited the earthquake-hit cities, saying he had not seen that "level of destruction" in his life.

The panel at the National Press Club was the first of a series of panels and meetings in the US from April 16-21 with a delegation of members of parliament, officials from public institutions and organizations and academics participating in the programs addressing disaster diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy in natural disasters, the effects of natural disasters on international relations and Turkish-US relations as well as the historical facts of the events of 1915.

Among the panelists were Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology chairman and AK Party Konya Deputy Ziya Altunyaldız and the Director-General of Earthquake and Risk Reduction at the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Orhan Tatar, Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council Member Nursin Atesoglu Guney, Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council Member Cagri Erhan, and Newsweek magazine columnist Tom O’Connor.

The panel started with a video on the Feb. 6 earthquakes which was followed by a video message from Türkiye’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun.

Altun stressed the importance of global solidarity to counter disinformation and its destructive effects, saying it is an "issue for the international community."

"As a country most exposed to disinformation, Türkiye resolutely voices the harms done to it," he said.

- Support from international community

Recalling his visit to earthquake-hit Hatay, Altunyaldız stressed the importance of support from the international community.

"A final point that I would like to underline is international society and states and all of the international organizations have come to help Türkiye," he said, thanking all of them.

"I also would like to say from taking this reference (that) wherever any humanitarian issue is happening in the world, I think the international community should take responsibility for better coverage and restore the belief in humanitarian officials and for our sustainable environment," he added.

Tatar, for his part, underlined that the earthquakes in Türkiye "caused extensive damage" in 11 provinces and were "unprecedented" in terms of their intensity.

"The area directly affected by the earthquakes is larger than many European countries, for example, three times larger than the size of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark," he said.

"And the population directly affected by the earthquakes is also about twice the size of New York City," he added.

Tatar said the world's "largest earthquake response" was carried out in the aftermath of the Feb. 6 earthquakes.

"This operation went down in history as one of the largest operations ever carried out in the world with over 32,000 professional people participating in search and rescue activities," he said.

"Ninety countries have participated in search and rescue operations," he said, adding nearly 11,000 of these professional search and rescue teams were from the other countries.

The US also sent search and rescue teams and collected donations to support the earthquake response, he said.

Tatar said that one key lesson learned from the response to the earthquakes in Türkiye is the importance of "coordination and collaboration" between different countries and organizations.

Adding that Türkiye has the highest number of active faults in its territory compared to other countries in the world, he said "the risk posed by these active fault lines highlights the importance of cross-border cooperation and planning for disaster response."

"Natural disasters know no boundaries," he added.

- Disasters and international security

Guney of the Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council said that after the "tragic events," there were a "breakthrough window of opportunity" in terms of disaster diplomacy.

"During the aftermath, we have seen that this international solidarity has come to our home, so this is a good thing to see," she said.

Guney mentioned the assistance Türkiye received from abroad, especially from neighbors like Greece and Armenia, saying that "it is the neighbors of yours coming first" because it is geographically accessible.

"So I know that after living through the 1990 earthquake, the Kocaeli-based Izmit earthquake," she added.

"I'm hopeful that we will be built together with our regions and beyond," she said.

Erhan said "our friends" in the US, from the first moment, gathered together to send support to Türkiye.

"After the Cold War, more and more of the states themselves became engaged with humanitarian diplomatic efforts, and Türkiye is one of those countries who started to pursue humanitarian diplomacy," he said.

Erhan said that natural disasters pose a "extremely significant" threat to the national security of Türkiye more than anything else.

Noting that the death toll from the latest earthquakes was more than 50,000, Erhan said “the number is almost twice more than we lost during the War of Independence."

Newsweek columnist O’Connor noted the "solidarity" and the "response" to the "horrible tragedy" in Türkiye.

He said there is a trend toward de-escalation and diplomacy in the region, adding: "What we are seeing though, is that there's a trend towards wanting to address this war weariness, this fatigue, of not being even able to talk to your neighbors, especially during times of crisis such as this.”

He said that Türkiye "has the privilege" of being a major and a "relatively wealthy country" which helps it drive the earthquake response.

"But where's the response in Afghanistan? Where's the response in Yemen?" he said.

"If there's going to be a mechanism that comes out of this, then it's going to have to apply more broadly and especially to the countries that are weak, that are poor, that are isolated. They need to become a part of this mechanism as well."