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Türkiye, Syria Quake: International Support and Offers of Aid

Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP)
Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP)
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Türkiye, Syria Quake: International Support and Offers of Aid

Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP)
Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP)

Governments and international organizations have responded with offers of support after an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck central Türkiye and northwest Syria. Hundreds of people have been killed.

WHO chief Tedros said its network of emergency medical teams has been activated to provide essential health care for the injured and most vulnerable affected by the earthquake.

Russia said it is readying rescue teams to fly to Türkiye to help earthquake victims there and in Syria.

A minister of emergency situations, Aleksandr Kurenkov, said teams of 100 search and rescue personnel are on standby to be sent to Türkiye with two Il-76 transport planes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also offered condolences in telegrams to the leaders of Syria and Türkiye and expressed readiness to help.

The offer was made despite Russia's international isolation led by Western nations over Moscow's war on Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a message of support to Türkiye to offer assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake.

“I am shocked to learn of deaths and injuries of hundreds of people as a result of the earthquake in Türkiye,” Zelenskyy wrote in a tweet.

“We send our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery. At this time, we stand by the friendly Turkish people and are ready to provide the necessary assistance.”

Ukraine has close ties with Türkiye, which helped negotiate a Black Sea grain agreement last summer to resume vital exports as the war in the country continues.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says a search and rescue team from the Netherlands will travel to the region of southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria.

“Terrible news about the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. Our thoughts are with all the victims of this severe natural disaster,” Rutte said in a tweet Monday. He said he had sent condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dutch organization Urban Search and Rescue sends teams, including rescue workers, construction experts, doctors, nurses and sniffer dogs to the scenes of disasters around the world.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also offered help.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says authorities are preparing to send aid and assistance to Türkiye. He said Israel was readying to send search and rescue teams and medical aid, after a request from Türkiye’s government.

The two countries are in the process of mending ties after years of tensions.

Writing in Turkish, Israeli President Isaac Herzog offered help in a message on Twitter, adding: “The State of Israel is always ready to send aid by any means possible. Our hearts go out to the families and Turkish people who are grieving at this painful time.”

Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry has offered condolences on the loss of life in Türkiye and Syria.

The neighboring country said it is sending rescue teams to Türkiye to assist local authorities there to deal with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

Bulgaria’s defense minister announced that two Spartan military transport aircraft will take off to the city of Adana in southeast Türkiye with emergency teams of firefighters, rescue workers and medics.

Türkiye’s neighbor Greece and other countries in the region have offered to send immediate assistance to help with the rescue effort.

“Greece is mobilizing its resources and will assist immediately ... (we are) deeply saddened by the devastating earthquake disaster,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote in a tweet.

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Trump's Words on Greenland and Borders Ring Alarms in Europe, But Officials Have a Guarded Response

FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS
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Trump's Words on Greenland and Borders Ring Alarms in Europe, But Officials Have a Guarded Response

FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Greenland's flag flies in Igaliku settlement, Greenland, July 5, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard via REUTERS

President-elect Donald Trump has tossed expansionist rhetoric at US allies and potential adversaries with arguments that the frontiers of American power need to be extended into Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, and southward to include the Panama Canal.Trump's suggestions that international borders can be redrawn — by force if necessary — are particularly inflammatory in Europe. His words run contrary to the argument European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are trying to impress on Russian President Vladimir Putin.But many European leaders — who've learned to expect the unexpected from Trump and have seen that actions don't always follow his words — have been guarded in their response, with some taking a nothing-to-see-here view rather than vigorously defend European Union member Denmark.Analysts, though, say that even words can damage US-European relations ahead of Trump's second presidency.A diplomatic response in Europe Several officials in Europe — where governments depend on US trade, energy, investment, technology, and defense cooperation for security — emphasized their belief that Trump has no intention of marching troops into Greenland.“I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pushed back — but carefully, saying “borders must not be moved by force" and not mentioning Trump by name.This week, as Ukrainian President Zelenskyy pressed Trump’s incoming administration to continue supporting Ukraine, he said: “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.” Since Putin marched troops across Ukrainian borders in 2022, Zelenskyy and allies have been fighting — at great cost — to defend the principle that has underpinned the international order since World War II: that powerful nations can’t simply gobble up others.The British and French foreign ministers have said they can't foresee a US invasion of Greenland. Still, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot portrayed Trump’s remarks as a wake-up call."Do we think we’re entering into a period that sees the return of the law of the strongest?" the French minister said. “‘Yes."On Friday, the prime minister of Greenland — a semiautonomous Arctic territory that isn’t part of the EU but whose 56,000 residents are EU citizens, as part of Denmark — said its people don’t want to be Americans but that he’s open to greater cooperation with the US.“Cooperation is about dialogue," leader Múte B. Egede said.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the US "our closest ally” and said: “We have to stand together.”Analysts find Trump's words troubling European security analysts agreed there’s no real likelihood of Trump using the military against NATO ally Denmark, but nevertheless expressed profound disquiet.Analysts warned of turbulence ahead for trans-Atlantic ties, international norms and the NATO military alliance — not least because of the growing row with member Canada over Trump's repeated suggestions that it become a US state.“There is a possibility, of course, that this is just ... a new sheriff in town," said Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, who specializes in foreign policy, Russia and Greenland at the Danish Institute for International Studies. "I take some comfort from the fact that he is now insisting that Canada should be included in the US, which suggests that it is just sort of political bravado.“But damage has already been done. And I really cannot remember a previous incident like this where an important ally — in this case the most important ally — would threaten Denmark or another NATO member state.”Hansen said he fears NATO may be falling apart even before Trump's inauguration.“I worry about our understanding of a collective West," he said. "What does this even mean now? What may this mean just, say, one year from now, two years from now, or at least by the end of this second Trump presidency? What will be left?”Security concerns as possible motivation Some diplomats and analysts see a common thread in Trump's eyeing of Canada, the Panama Canal and Greenland: securing resources and waterways to strengthen the US against potential adversaries.Paris-based analyst Alix Frangeul-Alves said Trump's language is “all part of his ‘Make America Great Again’ mode.”In Greenland's soils, she noted, are rare earths critical for advanced and green technologies. China dominates global supplies of the valuable minerals, which the US, Europe and other nations view as a security risk.“Any policy made in Washington is made through the lens of the competition with China,” said Frangeul-Alves, who focuses on US politics for the German Marshall Fund.Some observers said Trump's suggested methods are fraught with peril.Security analyst Alexander Khara said Trump’s claim that “we need Greenland for national security purposes” reminded him of Putin's comments on Crimea when Russia seized the strategic Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.Suggesting that borders might be flexible is “a completely dangerous precedent,” said Khara, director of the Centre for Defense Strategies in Kyiv.“We’re in a time of transition from the old system based on norms and principles,” he said, and “heading to more conflicts, more chaos and more uncertainty.”