Donors' conference for quake-hit Türkiye to be ‘unprecedented effort’ by int'l community, says EU commissioner

By Merve Aydogan and Dildar Baykan Atalay

ANKARA (AA) – An international donors conference, which is expected to be held in Brussels in March, is going to be an "unprecedented effort from the international community to help and to chip in substantially" to Türkiye's reconstruction efforts in the wake of deadly earthquakes earlier this month, said the EU commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu during a solidarity visit to Türkiye on Wednesday, EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said: "We came here today, first of all, to express our sympathies with the victims, express our condolences for those who have lost loved ones and to express that we're standing by Türkiye and we are standing by the people of Türkiye."

Citing his meetings with Turkish officials in Ankara, Varhelyi said the scale of the damage caused by the two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6 is "much, much bigger" than what one would "read in the press."

"We expect a final assessment coming, the rough final assessment coming in weeks because, of course, we want to organize donors' conference in the knowledge of this assessment," he said.

Varhelyi said that the conference is "going to be an unprecedented effort from the international community to help and to chip in substantially with the reconstruction exercise.

"We also see through the side of our member states that they also want to provide bilateral support," he said and called for global support.

"We are reaching out to our international financial institution partners to mobilize them as well and in that we're also reaching out to our bank, the European investment bank, to come around and help us," he added.

To a question, he said the European Council adopted a clear message of solidarity with Türkiye in its Feb. 9 session.

- Support to quake-hit Türkiye has to be 'global effort'

"This is very clear from the message of the European Council; this earthquake comes before everything. It comes before anything else. We need to help Türkiye and Türkiye expects us to help also," Varhelyi said, adding that such an earthquake was not experienced anywhere in the world during his generation.

"Therefore, it is obvious that it has to be a global effort, and the European Union is going to be instrumental. We are sharing the same region with Türkiye so we have to be first in this," he said.

Asked about Ukraine's membership to the EU, Varhelyi said Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia's application to EU membership immediately after Russia's war on Ukraine "shows that EU membership is considered to be the long term and real token for long term peace, stability and prosperity."

"The European Council granted candidate status based on our assessment and opinion to Ukraine and Moldova and offered possible candidate status for Georgia. From here on, the process has its own rules and life cycle, meaning these countries are from here on candidate countries," he said.

Noting that all three countries would have to meet "the exact same benchmarks or conditions as any other candidate country," Varhelyi said: "If they progress faster in the reforms, progress faster in meeting the criteria, the process in the EU integration will go faster."

With the duration of Russia's war on Ukraine remains unknown, Varhelyi said: "If we have a war raging for years and years, the devastation is going to be immense and therefore I have high hopes that this war will end in months rather than years. Then the EU accession process can also go ahead."

- 'Substantial amount of funding'

Johan Forssell, the international development minister of Sweden, currently the EU's term president, also spoke to Anadolu and said his country took the initiative to arrange the conference after seeing the "enormous needs – both the short term needs but also in the long-term perspective here."

"We will be arranging the donors' conference together with the European Commission. The commission has already said that it could provide a substantial amount of funding. We are welcoming that, being the chair of the European Union. At the same time, there are many member states, including Sweden, that also on the bilateral level is looking for providing Türkiye with substantial funding," Forssell said.

Emphasizing the importance of working on including not only member states but also the US, UK and the Gulf States and also to attract foreign investment from businesses, Forssell said: "There is great interest among many Swedish businesses but also European businesses for continuing and intensifying the investments in Türkiye."

"It won’t be possible for us to provide Türkiye with all the necessary funding but it still will be substantial, we believe," he added.

Asked about Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's recent call to reform the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to develop cooperation in natural disasters among member states, the Swedish minister said they are "looking at all possible ways to help Türkiye in this difficult time."

"What I can say is that we have noticed that there is strong European support for Türkiye because everyone has seen the shocking pictures (of the earthquakes) on television," he said.

According to the latest official figures, over 42,300 people were killed in the powerful earthquakes centered in the southern Kahramanmaras province and struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adiyaman, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig. Tens of thousands of others were injured.

On Ukraine's accession to the EU, Forssell said they are "working very intensively together with our Ukrainian friends. We want to help them come closer to Europe. We believe that will be a great thing."

Noting that the negotiations with Ukraine are ongoing and that some things need to be met, Forssell said: "It is difficult to put out precise time schedule (for their accession). But we very much hope for Ukraine to deliver on the agreements that have been made and hopefully we will be able to have even closer cooperation with them in the short term."

On Feb. 8, the European Commission announced their intention to host a donors' conference, in coordination with the Turkish authorities, to mobilize funds from the international community in support of the people of Türkiye and Syria following the devastating earthquakes, according to a European Commission statement.

"The objective of the high-level Conference, which will be open to EU Member States, neighboring countries, UN members, international financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders, is to coordinate the donors' response and raise resources in support of the early recovery and relief in the affected areas of Türkiye and Syria," the statement added.