On February 20, 2023, researcher Gu Zhenglong, director of the Middle East Studies Institute think tank at Shanghai International Studies University, published an opinion piece on 'Turkish, Syrian Earthquakes Promote Reconciliation among Middle East Countries on CFISNET, which reads as follows.
Turkish, Syrian Earthquakes Promote Reconciliation among Middle East Countries
The earthquake disasters in Syria and Turkey provide an opportunity to consolidate the emerging trend of reconciliation and conflict avoidance in the Middle East, deepening the already existing trend of reconciliation between Arab countries and Turkey, where the meeting between the presidents of Egypt and Turkey at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar may inspire some Arab countries reluctant to resume relations with Syria to draw closer to Syria, giving President Assad the potentially transform this tragedy into an avenue for open and sustainable diplomatic engagement.
The Middle East is defined by two categories of states: Arab states and non-Arab geopolitical states, namely Iran, Turkey and Israel. Throughout the region's long history, there has been a historical interaction of conflict, competition and cooperation, the last act of which began at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century with the mass uprisings known as the Arab Spring. First, there was an increase in the political presence of Islamic political groups in the region. Second, wars and political conflicts erupted in several countries. Third, strategic imbalances in the region gave neighboringcountries the opportunity to expand their influence. A sharp polarization emerged in the region between those who supported the Arab Spring revolutions and those who condemned them. Fourth, when the interaction ended, the influence of the Islamist movements waned, the U.S. presence in the region declined, and a trend emerged toward radical domestic reforms in some Arab states, leading them to favor easing regional tensions and supporting cooperation rather than competition. Amid this trend, the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have opened the door of opportunity to achieve regional reconciliation.
Earthquake shocks
The FUTURE CENTER UAE think tank published an analytical article on its website on February 13, noting that the 7-8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023, followed by a 7-6 magnitude earthquake hours later, was one of the bloodiest natural disasters in the region in the last decade. The death toll in Turkey rose to 29,605, according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Agency as of Feb. 12. In Syria, up to 5,200 people died, 775 buildings, including houses, hospitals and schools, collapsed and hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. More than 80,000 people were injured in Turkey and more than 7,000 in Syria.
The World Health Organization said Feb. 12 that the number of people affected by the earthquake was about 26 million, including 15 million in Turkey and 11 million in Syria. More than 5 million of them are considered to be at highest risk, including 350,000 elderly people and more than 1.4 million children. The organization estimates that more than 4,000 buildings collapsed in the quake and about 15 hospitals were partially or severely damaged.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey's 10 affected provinces. Among those most affected in Syria are Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons. These people are already living in very miserable conditions and are struggling with cold winter temperatures and food and fuel shortages. The result is that humanitarian needs are overriding existing political positions in the face of a trend toward reconciliation in the Middle East.
Arab countries come to the rescue
The earthquakes in Turkey and Syria had a huge impact on Arab countries, people and governments, and the media immediately covered the events and their material and humanitarian assistance. Despite the tremendous suffering these events may have caused, the impetus for interaction between countries during a period of improved relations in the Arab world created a momentum to look to Arab countries for more assistance. Despite the tensions with Turkey and Syria's ongoing exclusion from the League of Arab States, humanitarian needs transcend political positions and differences. In fact, the region has been experiencing a trend toward regional reconciliation since the beginning of the third decade of the century.
Immediately after the earthquake, governments began providing assistance to the countries affected by the earthquake. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, head of state of the United Arab Emirates, ordered $100 million in relief for the Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims, including $50 million for the Syrian people affected by the earthquake and $50 million for the Turkish people. He also directed the establishment of a field hospital, the dispatch of two search and rescue teams, as well as the delivery of emergency relief supplies to the Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims for the benefit of families in the affected areas.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched a global initiative to provide emergency humanitarian aid worth 50 million dirhams to those affected in Syria. on February 7, the UAE Ministry of Defense announced the arrival of two planes carrying humanitarian aid at Damascus airport as part of an air bridge to help those affected by the Syrian earthquake This humanitarian assistance is not provocative nor fear-mongering, but is seen as an exchange of benefits and a reconciliation of relations.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia also ordered the establishment of air bridges to support relief efforts and organized a mass aid campaign to help earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey. Saudi rescue teams went to the affected sites immediately after the air bridge was activated to provide relief items to the victims, with more than one million people donating until the evening of February 12, 2023. Saudi Arabia announced that donations to earthquake victims have exceeded SR 320 million since the launch of the relief platform. In line with governmental and civil initiatives, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman and the Palestinian National Authority provided aid and assistance to the victims of the Syrian and Turkish earthquakes.
Promoting Reconciliation
The earthquakes in Syria and Turkey are terrible humanitarian tragedies, but offer a great opportunity to try to advance the process of reconciliation between the region and the rest of the Arab world, which has already made progress. First, several countries in the region have welcomed President Bashar al-Assad and restored relations with Syria in both formal and informal forms. in March 2022, the UAE welcomed al-Assad in Abu Dhabi. In January, Turkish President Erdogan said he may meet Assad soon for peace talks. Before the arrival of humanitarian aid in the context of the earthquake, several Arab leaders and kings reached out to the Syrian and Turkish presidents to show their solidarity with the plight of their peoples. The first such call Bashar al-Assad received was from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in which he stressed his country's solidarity and readiness to provide all possible relief and assistance. Assad also received a phone call from King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, for the first time in more than a decade. A Lebanese ministerial delegation authorized by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told Assad that Lebanon is ready to open its airports and ports to receive assistance from any country or entity. Saudi Arabia, which severed ties with the Assad regime in 2012, also pledged assistance to affected areas under government control after the earthquake.
Tragedy Turned into Opportunity
In summary, the earthquake disasters in Syria and Turkey provide an opportunity to consolidate the emerging trend of reconciliation and conflict avoidance in the Middle East, deepening the already existing trend of rapprochement between Arab countries and Turkey, among them the meeting of the presidents of Egypt and Turkey at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Qatar, which may inspire some Arab countries reluctant to restore relations with Syria to draw closer to Syria, allowing President Bashar al-Assad the possibility of transforming this tragedy into an open channel for sustainable diplomatic engagement.
Source: CFISNET
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author or interviewees and do not represent the position of this research institution)
