Greek-Turkish earthquake diplomacy
Encyclopedia
The Greek–Turkish earthquake diplomacy was initiated after successive earthquakes hit both countries in the summer of 1999 and led to an improvement in Greco-Turkish relations
. The so called "earthquake diplomacy" generated an outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance provided by ordinary Greeks
and Turks
in both cases. These acts were encouraged from the top and took many foreigners by surprise, preparing the public for a breakthrough in bilateral relations, which had been marred by decades of mutual hostility.
experienced a massive earthquake centered around the Gölcük and Arifiye areas in Adapazarı
. The most severely affected area was the industrial city of İzmit
. The İzmit earthquake registered 7.4 on the Richter
scale and lasted for 45 seconds. A second earthquake hit İzmit on August 22, 1999. The official number of casualties was about 17,000, although real numbers are thought to be above 35,000; 300,000 people were left homeless, while the financial cost of the earthquake is estimated at about 3 billion dollars. Turkey's largest city, Istanbul
, was also affected with many buildings damaged and deaths amounting to dozens of people. The rupture passed through major cities that are among the most industrialized and urban areas of the country, including oil refineries
, several car
companies and the navy
headquarters and arsenal in Gölcük thus increasing the severity of the life and property loss.
Greece was the first foreign country to pledge aid and support to Turkey. Within hours of the earthquake, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs had contacted their counterparts in Turkey, and the minister sent his personal envoys in Turkey. On August 17, 1999 and on November 13, 1999 the Greek Ministry of Public Order sent in a rescue team of 24 people and 2 trained rescue dogs. The Ministry also sent fire extinguishing planes to help with putting out the fire in the Tupras refinery. The Secretariat of Civil Protections (working under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Interior Affairs) had previously sent a fully equipped medical team of 11 people, 4 of which were doctors as well as tents, ambulances, medicine, water, clothes, foods and blankets. The Greek Ministry of Defence readied a C-130 plane for transportation of the Greek rescue team (along with the equipment and the medicine). On August 18, 1999 the Ministry of Health set up three units for blood donations. The same day aid was sent by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
. On August 19, 1999 the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up three receiving stations in Athens
, Thessaloniki
and Komotini
, whose purpose was the gathering of the citizens' spontaneous help. Since August 19, the hospitals of Komotini and Xanthi
set up their own units for blood donations, and the Church of Greece
initiated a fund raiser.
On August 24, 1999, the five bigger municipalities of Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus
, Patras
, Herakleion) sent a joint convoy with aid. The municipality of Thessaloniki had started sending its own aid since August 19, 1999. On August 25, 1999 the National Association of Local Authorities (ΚΕΔΚΕ) offered 50,000,000 drachmas for the victims of the earthquake, and the Association of Local Authorities of Attica
offered 30,000,000 drachmas to the Turkish ambassador in Athens. The same day the municipality of Athens created a settlement for 1,000 persons with a nursery. Aid and equipped groups were also sent by the Greek Red Cross, the Athens' Medicine Association, and the Greek departments of the Médecins Sans Frontières
and of the Médecins du Monde
.
The Greek response to the earthquake received wide coverage in Turkey with newspaper headings such as "Friendship Time", "Friendly Hands in Black Days", "A Great Support Organization - Five Greek Municipalities say there is no flag or ideology in humanitarian aid", "Help Flows in from Neighbors - Russia first, Greece the most".
Both the official response and dialog and the reactions of the ordinary Greek were given wide coverage almost every day in every newspaper and on every TV channel in Turkey. Incidents such as people bringing in food donations to municipalities in Greece and blood drives in Greece specifically to be sent to earthquake victims in Turkey were highlighted. The emotional language in reporting differed significantly from the usual rhetoric found in both countries—words such as "neighbor", "true friend" were given in the headlines.
Officials in both countries used the emotional state of both populations to good effect, emphasizing at every opportunity that this was the time for a new understanding. When the Mayor of Athens came personally to visit the earthquake site, he was met on the tarmac by the Mayor of Istanbul. The Greek Chief Admiral Ioannides came to the retirement ceremony of the Turkish Chief Admiral Dervisoglu where he was applauded for several minutes by the participants of the ceremony.
' turn to be hit by a powerful, magnitude 5.9 earthquake. This was the most devastating and costly natural disaster to hit the country in 20 years. The tremor had a very shallow hypocenter
and an epicenter close the Athenian suburbs of Ano Liossia and Acharnes
, just 18 km away from the downtown area. A total of 143 people lost their lives in the disaster while more than 12,000 were treated for injuries. Though the death toll
was relatively low, the damage on several buildings and the infrastructure
in some of the city's northern and western suburbs was quite severe.
This time, the Turkish side reciprocated the aid. A special taskforce was convened, consisting of the Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry, Turkish Armed Forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Greek Ambassador in Ankara
was contacted to pledge aid. The Turkish aid was the first to arrive, with the first 20-person rescue team arriving to the site on a military plane within 13 hours after the earthquake. More followed within hours. The Greek consulates and embassy in Turkey had their phone lines jammed with Turks calling to find out whether they could donate blood and one volunteer contacted Ambassador Corantis, offering to donate his kidney for a "Greek in need".
Greco-Turkish relations
The relations between the Greek and the Turkish states have been marked by alternating periods of mutual hostility and reconciliation ever since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821...
. The so called "earthquake diplomacy" generated an outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance provided by ordinary Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
in both cases. These acts were encouraged from the top and took many foreigners by surprise, preparing the public for a breakthrough in bilateral relations, which had been marred by decades of mutual hostility.
Successive earthquakes
On August 17, 1999 at 3:04 AM, TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
experienced a massive earthquake centered around the Gölcük and Arifiye areas in Adapazarı
Adapazari
Adapazarı is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country, known as the Marmara Region. As of 2010, the city has a population of 560,876 ...
. The most severely affected area was the industrial city of İzmit
Izmit
İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...
. The İzmit earthquake registered 7.4 on the Richter
Richter
Richter can refer to:* the Richter magnitude scale, a scale measuring the strength of earthquakes.* Richter , an electro-rock band from Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Richter as a surname:...
scale and lasted for 45 seconds. A second earthquake hit İzmit on August 22, 1999. The official number of casualties was about 17,000, although real numbers are thought to be above 35,000; 300,000 people were left homeless, while the financial cost of the earthquake is estimated at about 3 billion dollars. Turkey's largest city, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, was also affected with many buildings damaged and deaths amounting to dozens of people. The rupture passed through major cities that are among the most industrialized and urban areas of the country, including oil refineries
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
, several car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
companies and the navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
headquarters and arsenal in Gölcük thus increasing the severity of the life and property loss.
Greek reaction and management of the aid
The main characteristic of this particular human crisis was the difficulty of the Turkish authorities to apply any rational planning because of the magnitude of the disaster, and the fact that the majority of the Greek initiatives were undertaken not only by the government, but mainly and most importantly by local authorities, NGOs and individuals.Greece was the first foreign country to pledge aid and support to Turkey. Within hours of the earthquake, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs had contacted their counterparts in Turkey, and the minister sent his personal envoys in Turkey. On August 17, 1999 and on November 13, 1999 the Greek Ministry of Public Order sent in a rescue team of 24 people and 2 trained rescue dogs. The Ministry also sent fire extinguishing planes to help with putting out the fire in the Tupras refinery. The Secretariat of Civil Protections (working under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Interior Affairs) had previously sent a fully equipped medical team of 11 people, 4 of which were doctors as well as tents, ambulances, medicine, water, clothes, foods and blankets. The Greek Ministry of Defence readied a C-130 plane for transportation of the Greek rescue team (along with the equipment and the medicine). On August 18, 1999 the Ministry of Health set up three units for blood donations. The same day aid was sent by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...
. On August 19, 1999 the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up three receiving stations in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
and Komotini
Komotini
Komotini is a city in Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace and of the Rhodope regional unit. It is also the administrative center of the Rhodope-Evros super-prefecture. The city is home to the Democritus University of Thrace, founded in 1973...
, whose purpose was the gathering of the citizens' spontaneous help. Since August 19, the hospitals of Komotini and Xanthi
Xanthi
Xanthi ; is a city in Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi peripheral unit of the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace.-History:...
set up their own units for blood donations, and the Church of Greece
Church of Greece
The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
initiated a fund raiser.
On August 24, 1999, the five bigger municipalities of Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
, Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, Herakleion) sent a joint convoy with aid. The municipality of Thessaloniki had started sending its own aid since August 19, 1999. On August 25, 1999 the National Association of Local Authorities (ΚΕΔΚΕ) offered 50,000,000 drachmas for the victims of the earthquake, and the Association of Local Authorities of Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
offered 30,000,000 drachmas to the Turkish ambassador in Athens. The same day the municipality of Athens created a settlement for 1,000 persons with a nursery. Aid and equipped groups were also sent by the Greek Red Cross, the Athens' Medicine Association, and the Greek departments of the Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières
' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...
and of the Médecins du Monde
Médecins du Monde
Médecins du Monde or Doctors of the World, is a non-governmental humanitarian aid organisation created in March 1980 by 15 French doctors, including Bernard Kouchner after he had left Médecins Sans Frontières , the aid society which he had co-founded earlier in 1971...
.
The Greek response to the earthquake received wide coverage in Turkey with newspaper headings such as "Friendship Time", "Friendly Hands in Black Days", "A Great Support Organization - Five Greek Municipalities say there is no flag or ideology in humanitarian aid", "Help Flows in from Neighbors - Russia first, Greece the most".
Both the official response and dialog and the reactions of the ordinary Greek were given wide coverage almost every day in every newspaper and on every TV channel in Turkey. Incidents such as people bringing in food donations to municipalities in Greece and blood drives in Greece specifically to be sent to earthquake victims in Turkey were highlighted. The emotional language in reporting differed significantly from the usual rhetoric found in both countries—words such as "neighbor", "true friend" were given in the headlines.
Officials in both countries used the emotional state of both populations to good effect, emphasizing at every opportunity that this was the time for a new understanding. When the Mayor of Athens came personally to visit the earthquake site, he was met on the tarmac by the Mayor of Istanbul. The Greek Chief Admiral Ioannides came to the retirement ceremony of the Turkish Chief Admiral Dervisoglu where he was applauded for several minutes by the participants of the ceremony.
Turkey reciprocates
Less than a month after the Turkish disaster, on September 7, 1999, at 2:56 pm local time, it was AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
' turn to be hit by a powerful, magnitude 5.9 earthquake. This was the most devastating and costly natural disaster to hit the country in 20 years. The tremor had a very shallow hypocenter
Hypocenter
The hypocenter refers to the site of an earthquake or a nuclear explosion...
and an epicenter close the Athenian suburbs of Ano Liossia and Acharnes
Acharnes
Acharnes is a suburb of Athens, Greece. It is the most populous municipality in East Attica. Much of the area north of the area are the forested Parnitha ranges and the parkland. The municipality is north of the Greater Ring of Athens. It is located about 10 km due north of Athens.In...
, just 18 km away from the downtown area. A total of 143 people lost their lives in the disaster while more than 12,000 were treated for injuries. Though the death toll
Death Toll
Death Toll is a 2008 action film starring DMX, Lou Diamond Phillips, Leila Arcieri and Keshia Knight Pulliam, written and produced by Daniel Garcia of the rap group Kane & Abel and directed by Phenomenon...
was relatively low, the damage on several buildings and the infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
in some of the city's northern and western suburbs was quite severe.
This time, the Turkish side reciprocated the aid. A special taskforce was convened, consisting of the Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry, Turkish Armed Forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Greek Ambassador in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
was contacted to pledge aid. The Turkish aid was the first to arrive, with the first 20-person rescue team arriving to the site on a military plane within 13 hours after the earthquake. More followed within hours. The Greek consulates and embassy in Turkey had their phone lines jammed with Turks calling to find out whether they could donate blood and one volunteer contacted Ambassador Corantis, offering to donate his kidney for a "Greek in need".