Has Turkey's National Vulnerability Increased After the Earthquake?

We have all experienced and are experiencing the unprecedented earthquake disaster that has ravaged us these days. We have thirteen and a half million earthquake victims within our borders. Can you imagine that more than 40 thousand of our countrymen and countrywomen have been martyred, thousands have been injured, thousands have been left homeless and homeless. Even in this state, it has exceeded the figure of 33 thousand in the 1939 Erzincan Earthquake in the history of our Republic. All this is the visible face of the earthquake, which has been buried under millions of tons of debris for now. Now we have to ask, don't we? What is the definition of neither the pain nor the helplessness we are experiencing to relieve the pain? Let's say it in one word, "There is none", there really is none. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people affected by the earthquake is 26 million. 11 million of them are in Syria, and the earthquake is also taking lives and hurting lives below our borders. According to Sivanka Dhanapala, an official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 5 million 370 thousand people in Syria need urgent shelter assistance. (1) Undoubtedly, the Republic of Turkey should take this situation into account and consider the peoples of the Ottoman legacy as a top priority.

Shouldn't the earthquake break the fault lines harboring enmity and hostility? Putting everything else aside, has it or can it really break the fault lines that harbor hostility and enmity? As far as we can see, first of all, it is clear that human beings have broken psychological fault lines. What about international, inter-state relations? Let's answer without thinking, without a doubt, it should break them too. But as it turns out, this is not the case at all. They think that the earthquake has increased Turkey's vulnerability and exposed its soft underbelly. According to them, exploiting these vulnerabilities and sensitivities can only come to the devil's mind, but whether this is done covertly or semi-openly, it is obvious. For the sake of clarity, it is possible to summarize the impositions as follows. Under the devastating conditions of the earthquake, some kind of implicit or semi-explicit, not underhanded, but baseball bat, sanctions, political-economic-diplomatic isolation and conspiracies. Don't ask if all this can happen at a time like this. Let's not try to show goodwill in advance, with an optimistic judgment that it cannot. We see it, it happens and it is happening. 

If you want an example, the situation in Turkey and Syria after the earthquake. CAATSA applied to Turkey and Caesar's Law applied to Syria. By the way, the sanctions are not only imposed on the 'Syrian PeKaKaKa', which holds a third of Syria's land by force, through the Biden Administration. It threatens individuals and organizations that provide direct and indirect aid to the Damascus regime in Turkey and more so in Syria, and not only threatens them, but also imposes sanctions, such as exclusion from commercial life. This means, and we don't have to go far, a kind of commercial warfare is being waged and they are being destroyed. 

The sanctions are so large and effective that Syria is not allowed to get back on its feet, to start the process of reconstruction and economic and political normalization. Nothing vital can be replaced. Syria is unable to obtain medicine, medical supplies and emergency rescue equipment. This situation was already unbearable before the earthquake, and the earthquake has only added to the already unbearable situation. It is clear that Syria will not be able to overcome this devastation without international support. According to Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN, Bessam Sabbag, cargo companies are refusing to send planes to Syria because of the sanctions. Ships cannot dock in ports. The Damascus regime rightly accuses the West of fueling the disaster. In the face of the growing outcry, the US Treasury Department has only announced the issuance of a license for a 180-day sanctions waiver for transactions related to earthquake relief. This is why Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad called it a "misleading move". (1) 

Isn't it obvious? You think positively that humanitarian diplomacy should dissolve enmities, but that's a moot point. Shall we move on to the examples of the impositions of those who came to condole under the mask of condolences? First of all, the arrival of Dandias to discover Turkey's weaknesses, then the former Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg, who has been NATO Secretary General for 9 years, whose term has been extended 3 times, and today Blinken, the chief imposer. Dendias, the Greek Foreign Minister, who is famous for his impoliteness, Dendias, the NATO Secretary General and the US Secretary of State, who took office immediately after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the implementer of Washington-centered policies. What do you think the visit of US Secretary of State Blinken, who will go directly to the earthquake zone after the Munich Security Conference, could be an indicator of? 

Let us answer without hesitation that they came to Turkey to determine whether Turkey has the reflexes to resist as a state and as a people. Don't you think so? In short, it is obvious that the implementers of the policies of imposition have come to our country to determine the situation on the spot. In the meantime, we should not forget the imposition salvos targeting Turkey and sister Hungary by the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the US apparatus in Berlin. Is it possible to use any other word than "imposition" to describe the call for both countries to approve Sweden and Finland's NATO membership before the next NATO Summit in July and to avoid any further delay? Let's be honest, do you think that "the trilateral agreement signed during the NATO Summit in Madrid contains clear criteria" and that Sweden and Finland have fulfilled them (?)? (2) 

It is desired that the "BURNING OF THE QUR'AN," a "CRIME OF HUMANITY" directly targeting the Republic of Turkey in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, should be forgotten and ignored. It is wrong to consider the burning of the Holy Quran, which is a direct hate crime, "only in the context of the NATO membership of these two countries. Antisemitism is a crime against humanity, Christian hatred is a crime against humanity, Islamophobia is a crime against humanity and a hate crime. These should be prevented according to international norms, not according to each country's interpretation. Ankara's response to all this is simply "we have not seen the concrete steps we want...". No one should have any doubts. 

Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries that have not yet ratified the Tripartite Protocol, while the other 28 NATO countries have ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. However, it should not be forgotten that this issue, like Hungary, is Turkey's decision. It is not NATO's decision. It is a decision that Turkey, brother Hungary, can act freely. Everyone can sign it, everyone is free to sign it. This is the decision of Ankara and Budapest. 

Turkey has two membership protocols and three options. The first option, which NATO strongly desires, is for Turkey to sign both protocols. In this option, Turkey's demand is simple and straightforward. To recognize the Syrian PeKaKaKaKa like ISIS and FETO as terrorist organizations and to impose sanctions against them. NATO insistently and imperiously wants the two protocols to be signed together. The second option is to approve only Finland's entry. After the Finnish Parliament ratified NATO's founding treaties, President Sauli Niinisto stated that the fate of his country was in Turkey's hands, which strengthens this option. So much so that the Finnish leader said that they do not want to and cannot withdraw their application, and that if Turkey approves Finland instead of Sweden, they will continue on their path without Sweden. One last option remains, which is for Sweden to convince Turkey. The earthquake must have put Sweden-Turkey tensions on the shelf, as Sweden sent a large search and rescue team to the earthquake zone and provided in-kind aid to the earthquake victims. Despite Sweden's tensions with Turkey and the anti-Turkey atmosphere of their public opinion, their support for Turkey by postponing their political and ideological problems is promising for the future.

Never in its history has Germany, the leader of continental Europe, become such an apparatus of the United States. What about Greece? Accepting the aid of Greece, which declared NAVTEX on the day of the earthquake, by pulling "Lahavle" is related to neighborly relations without buts, buts and buts, but trying to use the aid card of the Greek Cypriot Southern Cyprus is directly proportional to exploiting sensitivities. Turkey did not accept the Greek Cypriots, this is not about the Greek Cypriots' rebuff, for those who understand. By using the earthquake, the Greek Cypriot Republic of Northern Cyprus has attempted to show the world public opinion that it has been welcomed by Turkey to be used later. How about the brazen statement of the dishonest Dendias, "Did we need an earthquake to mend relations?" 

First of all, we must clearly avoid the fact that after the earthquake, everyone gave up their historical ambitions, especially Greece and the Greek Cypriots. It is almost absurd to even think optimistically. Could all this be part of an insidious plan? The probability is quite high. I mean, it could be. As it may be recalled, a similar process took place after the Gölcük and Athens earthquakes in 1999, and relations, which had become tense after the Kardak Crisis, entered a period of detente. It is to be hoped that Greek politicians will not leave these statements in quotation marks to words. "I have always said that despite the aggressive rhetoric and the tension on the Turkish side, nothing can separate us from the Turkish people," Greek Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis told the state TV channel ERT, adding that "if Turkey redefines its relations with the West" (4).  

In other words, Turkey will blindly submit to the West. The desire of the Republic of Turkey is clear, the problems between the two countries as a whole should be resolved in a reasonable and fair manner. Then the solution will come by itself. 

In the meantime, it should not be forgotten that Ararat (Mount Ararat) Mirzoyan, the Foreign Minister of Armenia, the artificial nation-state to the east of us, which the West helped to build, came to Turkey to show his support. The normalization process with Armenia, which had been going slowly in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War, was also enabled by the earthquake to open the Andijan border crossing, which had been closed for 32 years.   

After all this, it must be said that the West has failed in aid and solidarity. The huge NATO Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC) has not been able to go beyond showmanship in its assistance to Turkey. The NATO Council decided to send containers and tents suitable for winter conditions in the alliance's inventory to Turkey. It is important to note that this aid is not a grant, it is temporary and must be returned. This project, which will provide shelter for nearly 3,000 people, will serve for 6 months in the first phase and can be extended if needed, but on condition that it is returned. NATO is promising containerized shelter for a thousand people for six months. What should be said? 

The East has not been first among equals in this solidarity, but far ahead. Because large segments of the people of the East are hospitable, have high humanitarian sensitivity, are generous, voluntary, kind, and even superior to Westerners and Christians in these respects. Isn't that so, dear readers? According to the data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 101 countries and 16 international organizations have offered assistance. Of these, 74 sent both aid material and search and rescue teams in the first days. The number of search and rescue personnel from these countries exceeded 10 thousand people. (3) In contrast to the efforts of the Japanese Search and Rescue Team, which brought 70 of our people back to life from the ruins despite arriving later, the Greek team contributed to the rescue of only 5 of our people despite arriving earlier. Still, thanks to them, but the East has kept the job tight. The gracious Turkish nation will never forget those who stood by it on this dark day. Even German Chancellor Olaf Scholz uttered the aphorism "A true friend is known on a bad day" in Turkish. It should not be forgotten that if this disaster is categorized in diplomacy, it is a kind of manifestation of imposition under the mask of solidarity. Because the "tirade" that the German Chancellor was made to memorize is directly playing the good cop. 

In conclusion, it should not be a policy to squeeze Ankara in an organized manner, internally through elections and externally through economics and sanctions, within the framework of a systematic system of imposition through tidal waves. The imposition of Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership would not only backfire on Ankara, but even on Fizan. The earthquake disaster has also provided an opportunity for those who have come to the house of mourning. But the West needs to be clear about what it wants. Unless it does, time will take away the positive mood and the West will have to be content with looking back at the days that have passed. 

On the other hand, common suffering can pave the way for the normalization of Turkey-Syria, which until recently occupied the agenda, as well as the Armenia-Azerbaijan political peace. The unconditional opening of the border gates, the establishment of an air bridge and leaving behind the animosities that have accumulated for 12 years are the most prominent initiatives of the action plan to be implemented, dear readers. 

Footnotes

(1) Fehim Taştekin, "Evil is enough both above and below the border", Gazete Duvar, February 13, 2023; https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/kotuluk-sinirin-ustune-de-altina-da-yetiyor-makale-1603256/ Access Date 19.02.2023/

(2) Milat Dünya, "NATO'dan Türkiye'ye Genişleme Dayatması", Milat Gazetesi, 16 ŞUBAT 2023, p. 7 

(3) Haydar Oruç, "Felaket diplomasisi", Diriliş Postası Gazetesi, February 18, 2023, p.7

(4) Yeni Birlik Güncel, "Athens expects a softening in relations after the earthquake", Yeni Birlik Gazetesi, February 18, 2023, p.13.