Opinion As Turkey copes with earthquake’s devastation, it is only right that other countries, including India, come to its aid

India has made the right call by sending rescue and relief assistance to Turkey and Syria after the earthquake that has killed thousands in the affected areas of both countries, more on the Turkish side. Amid the frighteningly high toll, it is only right that all members of the international community pitch in with help to the best of their ability. It is 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 Delhi has stepped in with assistance frequently in the South Asian region, it also reached out with relief supplies and teams from the National Disaster Relief Force and medical teams to Japan during the 2011 tsunami, and to the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This time, too, teams of Army medics and personnel of the NDRF along with medical supplies have been sent to southern Turkey, and to northern Syria.

While assistance in the time of need, especially when such massive disasters strike, can be seen as a natural response to a crisis, humanitarian aid is part and parcel of every nation’s diplomatic toolkit, and especially for those with resources. It reaffirms friendship, seeks to project leadership and influence, and in relation to countries that do not have friendly ties, could prove to be an icebreaker. India’s shipments of Covid vaccines to several countries across the world, and rushing to help during crises in the neighbourhood, whether in the Maldives, Sri Lanka or Nepal, were also assertions of India’s leadership of the region and a statement of its global aspirations. During the 2005 earthquake that hit both sides of the Line of Control, and the 2010 floods, India contributed to UN fund-raisers for the country, getting around bilateral barriers, signaling willingness to move forward. The other side of the coin is aid refusal. During last year’s floods that ravaged Pakistan, Delhi conveyed a readiness to send assistance, but Islamabad did not respond, and thereafter, India did not contribute to the UN’s international fund. In 2004, the Manmohan Singh government refused international aid, bilateral as well as from international aid agencies, sending a message that an economically resurgent India has the ability to cope with crisis on its own.

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Over the last four years, Delhi had virtually cut off Turkey for its pro-Pakistan posturing on Kashmir, but realisation set in soon enough that a globalised world creates interdependencies in unexpected ways and no country can isolate another without hurting itself. In 2021, Turkey was among the countries that sent oxygen supplies to help India fight Covid’s Delta wave. Turkey is also a world logistics hub and several Indian companies are based there. Last September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit at Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Turkey’s effusive thank-you to India — “a friend in need is a friend indeed”, said the Turkish Ambassador in Delhi — reaffirms that both sides are working on the relationship.