Foreign Soldiers in the Earthquake Zone

First of all, I wish God's mercy to our citizens who lost their lives in the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquake on 6 February 2023, which is also called the "Disaster of the Century" or the "Little Apocalypse", and I wish a speedy recovery to our injured citizens, and I wish patience to their relatives and all of Turkey.

Since a period of approximately 15 days has elapsed since the disaster, eyes are now focussed on relief activities from rescue activities. One of the issues that came to the agenda in the aid activities has been turned especially to the elements of the armed forces of Spain and the USA. Because the 6th Fleet elements sent by the USA to the region for assistance and the Juan Carlos LPD (Landing Platform Dock-Pooled Landing Ship), similar to the Anadolu ship of the Spanish navy, were anchored in the port of İskenderun. 

Some of the elements disembarking from the Spanish ship were labelled as "patrol" in social media posts, which led the public to ask "What is going on? What is a military patrol doing in an earthquake? Do the US and NATO have a secret agenda?", leading to questions such as "What is going on?". Especially in the scenario of the "Millennium Challenge" exercise held in the USA in 2002, the occupation of Red after the earthquake raised the question of whether a similar scenario was being played out against Turkey, and made these allegations interesting. 

As it is known, after the magnitude and effects of the earthquake were assessed, the Ministry of Interior called for level 4 aid. This means Turkey's willingness to accept international aid. It is understood that in Turkish domestic law, the authority to assess any disaster is given to AFAD by law.    Naturally, AFAD shared this assessment with the Ministry of Interior. Afterwards, it is stated that the Ministry of Interior notified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the call for assistance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a call for assistance to the EU ERCC (Emergency Response Coordination Centre).  In addition, it is understood that Turkey or the EU ERCC also made a call to NATO EARDCC (Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre) according to the statements of NATO officials. Because the high number of foreign military personnel and troops in the field shows us this. In such a situation, NATO EADRCC makes this call to all international organisations, especially the UN and the EU, as well as NATO member and cooperating countries. 

Table-1: NATO EADRCC Operating Mechanism 

Although the US and Spanish troops are particularly targeted in the public opinion, in fact the majority of A/K units are either composed of military personnel or are seen to include military personnel. Rescue teams of countries such as China, Japan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan can be given as examples. Because in the world, contrary to the situation in Turkey, the importance of using military units in disaster and subsequent recovery activities has been understood once again, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic period.  

The elements of the Spanish Armed Forces may have sent the elements declared to the NATO Response Force (NRF) in Turkey. Because these units are ready and waiting during these periods. The NRF concept has been implemented in NATO since 2003. According to this concept, corps-level units declared to NATO by countries are deployed in one-year periods according to the provisions of the NATO agreement. These assignments are of two types. The first is to take command of the NATO NRF force in one-year periods, and the second is related to how much force will be allocated to this force for each period. Germany is the leading country in the NRF mission for 2023.

The Spanish soldiers on patrol in Iskenderun could also be personnel of a military unit in this context. There may be two reasons why Spanish soldiers are perceived in this way. The first one is that they exaggerated the coordination of how and where the aid will be delivered and the rules of engagement with the effect of some news in the social media, and the second one may be due to the inability to allocate sufficient liaison personnel due to the fact that TAF elements in the region were engaged in A/K and aid activities. 

In addition, apart from the soldiers involved in A/K activities, the Minister of National Defence, Mr. It is also understood from the statement made by Mr Hulusi AKAR that Qatar and the USA also allocated helicopters. 

In conclusion, the military personnel and troops in Turkey due to the earthquake are there as required by the domestic law of the Republic of Turkey and the international agreements to which it is a party. If these personnel and troops are here for the purpose of occupation, as claimed by a section of the public opinion, then it is envisaged that these elements do not require the invitation or refusal of the Republic of Turkey. During the pandemic, the Russian Armed Forces came to Italy for assistance. However, when we look at today, in the Ukraine-Russia war, Italy is pursuing an anti-Russian policy due to its EU and NATO membership. 

Another conclusion we can draw from this is that the Turkish Armed Forces should be in a leading position especially in emergencies such as disasters and pandemics, as in the past. Because the Turkish Armed Forces has shown in the past that it will play an important role with its material and moral power in overcoming such crises with its nationwide logistics channels and DAFYAR (Natural Disaster Relief) units and plans in peace, war and extraordinary situations. In addition, this issue is a situation that is accepted as a common understanding in all countries all over the world, whether they are governed by democratic or anti-democratic rules. Insistence to the contrary will harm the Turkish people in natural disasters. What benefit can insistence on harm be to whom?