The massive earthquake that struck Türkiye caused the death of tens of thousands of people and brought tragedy to millions of residents in the areas that were hit by it.
However, one's tragedy is apparently another's opportunity, primarily an opening to "disaster diplomacy" that opens windows of opportunity for leaders and governments, even those of the countries stricken by the disaster, to promote their interests.
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For Türkiye and Israel, the earthquake was a chance to step up the efforts at warming the relations between them, which began last year. Alongside the telephone conversations between the countries' leaders overflowing with friendship and warmth, Israel hastened to dispatch an aid delegation and even a field hospital, precisely as it did when the last earthquake occurred in Türkiye in 1999.
The Turks repaid us in the Mount Carmel forest fire in December 2010, sending firefighting planes to aid in contending with the massive forest fire. By the way, this was a mere few months after the "Mavi Marmara" incident in May 2010 that led to a crisis in the relations between the two countries. There is no doubt that the Turkish firefighting planes not only helped put out the flames on Mount Carmel but also the fire that engulfed the relations between the two countries. The current earthquake catches Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a critical moment from his point of view, before the crucial elections that will take place in Türkiye this coming May (it turns out, by the way, that the reports on the death of democracy in Türkiye were premature…).
But the earthquake also occurred in the midst of his move to improve the relations of Türkiye with its neighbors, whom it had been in conflict with for most of the previous decade. Israel was the first of these countries, but we can also mention Egypt, whose president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, also hastened to call Erdoğan and express his sympathies and condolences. The two met briefly last summer at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as part of their "soccer diplomacy" that takes advantage of sports to promote diplomatic efforts.
We must remember that with all due respect to earthquakes – while they may change the lives of millions in the areas affected by them, they do not fundamentally change a country's internal and regional reality. At best, they alleviate or even hasten processes and tectonic movements in the relations between nations that would have probably happened anyway, if at a different pace. Syria evidences this. In contrast to the case in Türkiye, where the earthquake was taken advantage of to promote diplomatic efforts, this did not happen in Syria, as its media rarely focuses on the matter, and barely anyone has come to its aid.
After all, a bloody civil war took place in Syria in the last decade, claiming the lives of about 600 thousand people and destroying about three-quarters of the country's infrastructure and buildings. We can understand why an earthquake that caused the deaths of several thousand people, some of whom were in areas not even controlled by the Syrian government, and that toppled several thousand buildings, does not contribute to or damage Syrian President Bashar Assad, whether regarding his regime or his allies and enemies.
Of all other countries, Israel, which gave indirect permission to aid Syria via the Russians, stated that it was willing to help Syria. However, the Syrians quickly declared that they did not want this aid. Blankets or tents can ultimately be delivered to Syria, just as hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 vaccines were given to them via Moscow two years ago, but do not assume that this will change Syria's policy or the quality of Damascus's ties with Tehran.
Indeed, it is worth mentioning that in December 2003, an earthquake occurred in the city of Bam in Iran, killing about 40 thousand people. The Iranians and Syrians took advantage of the incident for a slightly different type of diplomacy. They requested and received authorization to establish an air bridge of flights that would bring aid from Syria to Iran via Iraq's airspace, controlled back then by the US. However, it became apparent that the planes did not return empty to Syria; they were crammed with Iranian missiles meant for Hezbollah. Here is another way to take advantage of natural disasters in the Middle East.
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