EU to host donor conference on Türkiye, Syria quake aid

Brussels, The Gulf Observer: The EU plans to host a donors conference in March to mobilise international aid for Türkiye and Syria to deal with the devastating impact of this week’s earthquake, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday, media reports citing the official website of European Commission.

“We are now racing against the clock to save lives together. Soon we will provide relief aid, together. Türkiye and Syria can count on the EU,” von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

The EU said the conference would be held early next month in Brussels in coordination with Turkish authorities “to mobilise funds from the international community in support for the people” of both countries.

“No one should be left alone when a tragedy like this hits a people,” von der Leyen said in a statement.

The event is aimed at coordinating the international response to the disaster and “will be open to EU Member States, neighbouring countries, UN members” and international lenders, the bloc said.

The European Union was swift to dispatch rescue teams to Turkiye after the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country on Monday close to the border with Syria.

But it initially offered only minimal assistance to Syria through existing humanitarian programmes because of European Union sanctions imposed since 2011 on the government of President Bashar al-Assad in response to his brutal crackdown on protesters, which spiralled into a civil war.

On Wednesday, Damascus made an official plea to the European Union for help, the bloc’s commissioner for crisis management said.

Now that Damascus has made the move, through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism that coordinates aid, Janez Lenarcic said the commission was asking European countries “to respond favourably to this request”.

The participants in the EU mechanism comprise the 27 EU countries plus eight neighbouring non-EU nations that include Norway and Turkiye.