India has begun its presidency of the G20 and the underlying theme of One World, One Family, One Future in the right spirit, by sending rescue and relief assistance to Turkey and Syria after the earthquake that killed thousands in the affected areas of both countries, more on the Turkish side. Besides, Turkey too is a member of G20. It was also in keeping with India’s best tradition of being an early responder to natural disasters and calamities in its immediate neighbourhood, and of late, in other parts of the world as well. While New Delhi has stepped in with assistance frequently in the South Asian region, barring Pakistan for obvious reasons, it also reached out with relief supplies and teams from the National Disaster Relief Force and the army medical corps to Japan during the tsunami in 2011 and to the US in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This time, a number of Indian flights landed in Turkey, carrying emergency relief supplies and medical help. For Turkey, Operation Dost came at a critical time as such was the devastation wrought by the earthquake. Search and rescue teams from the NDRF, medicines, equipment even vehicles and trucks, not to forget sniffer canines, were airlifted by Indian Air Force C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft from the Hindon air base near the national capital to the Adana airport in Turkey. An army field hospital in Iskenderune started functioning with running medical, surgical and emergency wards, x-ray labs and medical stores. The Indian team worked 24x7 to provide relief to the affected people. This was India’s soft power at work, never mind the fact that India and Turkey have not been on the best of terms, of late. Turkey chose to side with Pakistan when India revoked Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir in 2019. India criticised Turkey when its forces invaded Syria in the Kurdish regions. However, when India grappled with the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, Turkey sent two planeloads of relief aid in the form of oxygen concentrators, ventilators and medicines. India has now reciprocated in ample measure. Incidentally, Turkey was hit by the earthquake at a time when its economy is facing headwinds, some of which are of its own making. Taken in by the Islamic banking ideas of not charging interest rates, the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government slashed interest rates to 9 per cent from 19 per cent, which resulted in the country’s currency to crash in 2021, as well as last year. Inflation is currently as high as 85 per cent and prices of fuel, food and other items of daily necessity have gone through the roof. Over and above the economic problems, Erdogan’s foreign policy misadventures like failed attempts to topple Assad’s government in neighbouring Syria and hosting nearly three-and-a-half million Syrian refugees had added to social unrest and strain on depleting resources.
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The Indian team worked 24x7 to provide relief to the affected people
