The European Union collects 7.5 billion dollars for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

IZMIR, TURKEY – An international donors conference in Brussels on Monday pledged nearly $7.5 billion for the reconstruction of earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey, as the death toll reached more than 50,000 in Turkey alone.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said today that the fundraising campaign has “reached its goal” by providing grants and loans worth 6.05 billion euros ($6.48 billion) to Turkey and 950 million euros ($1.018 billion) to Turkey. . ) in grants to Syria.

One billion in aid alone comes directly from the European Commission, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged when she kicked off the EU-sponsored event in Brussels. I am pleased to announce that the European Commission alone will support Turkey with €1 billion ($1.072 billion) for post-earthquake reconstruction. We are also pledging an additional €108 million ($115.7 million) package for humanitarian aid and early recovery in Syria,” von der Leyen told participants, which included EU member states, UN institutions, international funding bodies, India, Japan and Azerbaijan. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Six hours later, von der Leyen announced that “Team Europe”—that is, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development—had raised 3.6 billion euros ($3.8 billion), half of all donations. The total amount includes grants and loans or, in the case of Hungary, financing for the renovation of a particular church. EU member Cyprus, which is not recognized by Turkey, attended the conference and pledged 500,000 euros ($533,200) to Turkey and Syria.

Christerson noted that Sweden will allocate 45 million euros ($48 million) for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the two quake-hit countries. Ankara continues to block Sweden’s entry into NATO on the grounds that Stockholm has failed to deliver on its promises to meet Turkey’s security needs. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that his government would send neighboring Finland’s application to Sweden for ratification to parliament ahead of dual elections scheduled for May 14. In response to a question about Sweden’s membership in NATO, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara was waiting for concrete steps from Sweden, such as preventing fundraising activities, recruitment and propaganda for groups that Turkey considers terrorist.

In this reporter, Cavusoglu thanked the European Union – and the Swedish presidency – for showing solidarity with Turkey and helping with the country’s reconstruction. He added, “Turkey submitted a detailed report on the assessment of recovery and rehabilitation for donors, as well as a detailed plan for our priorities.”

Erdogan, who sent a video message to the conference, also expressed rare EU praise for the conference, saying, “This shows the strength of the bonds between our peoples,” and vowed that Turkey would continue to facilitate land and air transportation. Humanitarian relief items for earthquake victims in Syria.

The Turkish president estimated economic losses from the earthquake at $104 billion, echoing needs estimates by the United Nations Development Fund and the World Bank, which reassessed its previous estimate of $34.2 billion.

A report prepared by the Turkish Presidency’s Office of Strategy and Budget, with inputs from the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the European Union, confirmed that the earthquake’s economic losses amounted to 9% of Turkey’s projected GDP for 2023. “This is a shocking amount, reflecting the unfathomable scale of the devastation The road to recovery will be difficult, and even given the government’s dedication to the country’s vast resources, it will depend in part on the support of the international community,” the report said, noting the construction of both homes and infrastructure as priorities, explaining that the mass exodus from The region cannot be reversed without them.

“Residential tower blocks and village houses are destroyed over a vast area of ​​110,000 square kilometres,” says the 220-page report, referring to an area equivalent to one-seventh of Turkey or, as the Swedish prime minister noted, the land of Belgium and the Netherlands combined. In addition, 3.3 million people have been displaced while about 2 million live in tents and containers.

Erdogan, who faces one of the toughest challenges of his 20-year rule in the upcoming elections, appears determined to bolster his tarnished image with promises to “rebuild Turkey” and hopes donor money will help him do so. His message to the conference confirmed his plans for reconstruction. “We plan to deliver a total of 650,000 homes to our people – 319,000 of them within the first year. We have immediately started construction work in areas where the site detection and land survey phases have been completed.

However, Erdogan’s pledges of “immediate deliverables” are alarming international donors, particularly within the European Union. A European diplomat familiar with the disaster area said that without strengthening laws, controls and new monitoring institutions, new construction could lead to a new disaster. “This is why some speakers emphasized the need for accountability and transparency while repeating the need to build better earthquake-resistant structures,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified.

Most donations are unlikely to come before the May 14 elections, said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies, and a former diplomat. He said in an interview with Al- “Turkey and the European Union – which organized the donors’ conference – will draw the framework related to the conditions and criteria for transparency for aid spending, and it is likely that the bulk of the funds will be loaded rather than loaded in the front.” a screen.

Ulgen said the urgency with which EU member states rushed to help Turkey and the donors’ conference softened the rhetoric between Turkey and EU members. “The help of the European Union, its members and other countries in the global community has made it very difficult to present a rhetoric about hurting Turkey or creating an external crisis to fuel nationalist sentiments as we approach elections.”

At the recent conference, Cavusoglu said he hoped the solidarity shown by the EU to Turkey would continue in other areas, but made no specific mention of the stalled EU-Turkey membership negotiations or the shelved customs union modernization.

Cavusoglu met with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, on the sidelines of the meeting, where the two agreed to support each other’s candidacy for international institutions, in a new sign of warming relations. Dendias said after the meeting that Turkey will support and vote in favor of Greece’s application for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2025-26, while Greece will support Turkey’s bid to take over the IMO’s general secretariat.

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