On February 6, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, destroying homes and buildings, leaving more than 21,000 dead so far, with more than 17,000 deaths in Turkey and more than 3,000 in Syria. In addition to this there are more than 78,000 injured people across both of the countries. It is one of the deadliest earthquakes in the past 20 years, and the strongest earthquake in Turkey since the 1930s.
President Joe Biden said that his "administration has been working closely with our NATO Ally Turkey". Since then, the U.S. has transported first responders and multiple urban search and rescue teams to provide aid to it's ally. However, according to spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Ned Price, the U.S. will aid Syria through non governmental organizations without engaging with the Syrian government.
Syrian officials condemned the United State's refusal to engage with their country's government even following a deadly earthquake, but Price says that "It would be quite ironic — if not even counterproductive — for us to reach out to a government that has brutalised its people over the course of a dozen years now" He asserts that while aid will be provided, no U.S. funded humanitarian aid will be provided through the Syrian regime.
I think that while it may seem cruel to be refusing to send direct aid, it's a perfectly reasonable action. The Syrian government has no diplomatic relations with the U.S. and aid is still being sent, albeit through groups not affiliated with the government. Politics are an important consideration in every situation, and emergencies are no exception.
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3293241/us-aids-turkey-after-devastating-quakes/
https://www.newsweek.com/syria-says-us-politicizes-earthquake-after-refusal-send-aid-assad-1779637
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/6/us-pledges-post-earthquake-aid-but-no-contact-with-syrias-assad
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/06/u-s-response-blinken-turkey-syria-earthquake-00081307
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-earthquake-updates-2-9-23-intl/index.html
4 comments:
I agree with you, John. For a country like Syria, which has been terrorizing its people under a tyrannical, undemocratic regime for years, to request "humanitarian aid" is blatantly hypocritical. The government of Syria is claiming to care about the well-being of its people now that it is under international spotlight due to the earthquake, but where has this care been for the past decade? I don't blame the US for not sending government-sanctioned aid. A country needs to treat their people fairly in order to deserve US emergency aid.
This assertation makes a lot of sense because it would be unreasonable to send aid to a country that not only doesn't have relations with the US but also has had a questionable past with us. The government of Syria doesn't seem to care about its people and by them enacting anger to the US for not sending aid, they haven't done much either. I agree with Logan as the Syrian government in a way doesn't deserve the aid coming from the US. I understand that this may be cruel as there was a deadly earthquake but if a country cannot protect their own civilians' rights, they shouldn't be in charge of the aid the people receive.
The situation in Syria has been a tragedy for the people there for many years now. A brutal regime that commits atrocities on an industrial scale is fighting a number of rebel groups trying to bring about change. Many of the people in Syria would no doubt be very happy to get rid of the Assad regime, but have been unable to do so. Now, there are various other countries involved, including Turkey, Russia, the United States, and Israel. Various gulf states have provided aid to the rebels as well. The war seems to be at somewhat of a stalemate, and the devastating earthquake has caused more suffering. In a war zone, aid will be hard to deliver at best, and likely to come too late for many. Delivering aid directly to the regime would not be ideal given their track record of atrocities and violating human rights, as much of the aid would likely not even go to the people it was intended to help, but instead be siphoned off for the war effort. While bypassing the Syrian government might make some of the aid less likely to be used in parts of the country they control, it would more likely make its way to the people it was intended to help. I think that it was the right call to work with organizations outside of the Syrian government. Hopefully the Syrian government will allow these aid groups to work in areas they control free of interference.
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