The Turkish people have a strong tradition of humanitarian aid rooted in their history and culture. In this context, Turkey sees providing aid to countries in need due to natural disasters, wars, poverty, and social conflicts as a humanitarian duty and an important element in the stability of the international community.
Based on this perspective, Turkey strives to deliver humanitarian aid swiftly and to the best of its capabilities to areas in need without discriminating based on race, religion, language, or gender. Turkey also contributes to international efforts in this regard.
Our humanitarian assistance, which initially started as food shipments in the mid-1980s, has gained momentum in the past decade, expanding to various regions of the world, and covering both quantitative and qualitative aspects, including non-food areas.
Many civil society organizations, including the Turkish Red Crescent, actively engage in humanitarian aid efforts.
Furthermore, Turkey endeavours not only to provide bilateral humanitarian assistance but also to contribute through international organizations such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Thus, it has given an international dimension to its humanitarian aid, increasing cooperation with international organizations operating in this field. In line with this, Turkey became a member of the OCHA Donor Support Group (ODSG), which aims to shape humanitarian policies monitored by OCHA, as of July 1, 2014.
According to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report, Turkey continued to be the world’s largest donor country in 2018 with official humanitarian aid of $8.399 billion. Additionally, Turkey earmarked 0.79% of its national income for humanitarian aid in the same year, continuing to be the “most generous country in the world.” In 2017, these figures were $8.07 billion and 0.85%, respectively.
The humanitarian dimension of ongoing crises in its vicinity, as seen in the case of Syria, has been a determining factor in Turkey’s recent humanitarian aid activities. These global crises, with their ever-increasing global impact, have also strengthened Turkey’s position in its existing humanitarian aid system.
Turkey has been providing support for UN aid agencies’ cross-border humanitarian aid deliveries for Syria in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions since 2014.
Within this framework, our assistance, delivered through the Öncüpınar and Cilvegözü border gates, accounts for 80% of all cross-border aid to Syria. This percentage also implies that Turkey is responsible for 31% of all international aid to Syria.
Regarding the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, our country’s humanitarian aid reached a significant volume. With contributions from our relevant institutions, our aid, consisting of around fifty tons of medicine and medical supplies used in cholera treatment, as well as flour, food, clothing, wheelchairs, and two mobile hospitals, reached Aden by ship in 2017. The amount of this aid is 10,600 tons, with a value of $8.9 million.
In addition to bilateral aid, Turkey makes significant contributions on a multilateral basis, particularly to Palestine. Apart from providing bilateral aid to Palestine, Turkey also contributes at a multilateral level, particularly to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) among others. Turkey, which is among the founding members of UNRWA, has provided $28 million in cash and in-kind assistance to the Agency within the last two years.
Turkey provides emergency humanitarian aid in response to human-made crises and natural disasters. Our country’s recent humanitarian aid activities include responding to natural disasters such as the South Asian earthquake at the end of 2004, the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon in 2006, the Gaza crisis that erupted at the end of 2008, the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010, and the floods in Pakistan in the same year. In addition, Turkey provided humanitarian aid for the earthquake in Japan in 2011, the typhoon in the Philippines in 2013, the floods in the Balkans in 2014, the attack on Gaza, and the earthquakes in Nepal in 2015, the humanitarian crises in Yemen and Libya in 2015 and 2016, and the floods in Macedonia in 2016.
In this context, our humanitarian aid continues to increase in recent years. In 2017, we provided both cash and in-kind aid in Colombia and Georgia, in 2018 in Vietnam, Laos, and Indonesia, and in 2019 in Mozambique for disasters such as floods, forest fires, and earthquakes.
Turkey, based on its experiences in the international humanitarian aid field, supports efforts led by the United Nations to overcome the current impasse in the global humanitarian system and to construct a more just and effective system. In this context, the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), initiated within the framework of the personal initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, took place in Istanbul on May 23-24, 2016.
The Summit was conducted with a multi-stakeholder format involving heads of state and government, international organizations, civil society organizations, the academic community, the private sector, and representatives of crisis-affected communities. It comprehensively addressed the issues needed to overcome the difficulties faced by the global humanitarian system under current conditions. During the Summit, these stakeholders made various commitments and shared their views and experiences. Turkey, during this occasion, shared its views on the humanitarian system’s problems and its perspectives on the system’s future with the humanitarian community.
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Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Dışişleri Başkanlığı
