Yemenis return favor to quake-hit Türkiye

ISTANBUL (AA) – Despite the hardships in their war-torn country, Yemenis showed remarkable support and solidarity with the victims of two deadly earthquakes that killed thousands in Türkiye.

More than 41,000 people were killed and thousands injured by the back-to-back quakes in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures.

Following the Feb. 6 earthquake disaster, the Yemeni community launched a donation campaign for the quake victims, in a show of giving back to Türkiye following its humanitarian assistance to their home country, which has been battered by civil war for more than eight years.

Türkiye has championed several relief programmes and development projects in various Yemeni provinces, in addition to medical support for the war victims and scholarships for students.

- Turkish favor

The Yemeni campaign, which was launched in cooperation with the Yemeni Embassy in Ankara, collected 17 million Turkish liras (about $900,000).

On Feb. 18, the Yemeni community dispatched 10 trucks loaded with food, medical and shelter materials, from Istanbul to the quake-hit areas in southern Türkiye.

"We cannot return the Turkish favor, as it is very large. It is just a modest attempt and a symbolic expression of fulfillment towards the relentless efforts of Türkiye, which is still providing a lot of aid to the Yemenis," Nabila Saeed Al-Rabasi, a spokesman for the campaign, told Anadolu.

"Türkiye has a role in providing relief aid to the Yemenis through various organizations, to alleviate the suffering of the population due to the difficult circumstances that Yemen is going through,” she said.

"Türkiye has sheltered thousands of Yemenis who have sought refuge in the country since the outbreak of the war, and it was the homeland that reunited them.”

Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Tawakkol Karman, announced on Feb. 13 her donation to rebuild 50 housing units which, upon completion, will be handed over to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD).

The Tawakkol Karman Foundation also dispatched a relief convoy, which set off on Wednesday from Istanbul to the Turkish city of Hatay, to provide relief to those affected by the earthquakes.

- Yemeni solidarity

Also in Yemen, at least 47 local civil society organizations announced their solidarity with the earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria.

In a statement issued after the earthquakes, the Yemeni organizations called on UN and international organizations to "provide all possible support to those affected by the earthquake in all the affected areas."

"Türkiye has provided frequent assistance to Yemenis over the past years," said Hamdi al-Samei, a project manager at the Youth Empowerment Humanitarian Development NGO in Taiz.

"The Yemenis have loving and respectful relations with their Turkish brothers. Our country must work officially and popularly in an effort to return the favor to Türkiye, even with the least capabilities," he told Anadolu.

At the popular level, the earthquake disaster sparked a wave of widespread sympathy among the Yemeni people, according to Iftikhar Abdu, a Yemeni journalist covering social and humanitarian affairs.

"The Yemenis launched campaigns for donations and assistance to the victims, despite their scarcity of resources, as an expression of loyalty to the Turkish humanitarian support to their country," Abdu told Anadolu.

Yemen has fallen into civil war in 2014, in a deadly conflict that claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people, and left 80% of its population of about 30 million people dependent on aid in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat