Turkey pledges to lead efforts to help flood-stricken Pakistan

On Thursday, addressing a hastily called meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York, State Minister Egemen Bağış said it was a shared responsibility for the world to end the misery in Pakistan. “Turkey will be at the forefront of aid efforts,” Bağış, who is also Turkey’s chief negotiator for EU talks, told the UN assembly.

Floods that began three weeks ago with torrential monsoon rain over the upper Indus river basin have forced more than 4 million people from their homes. Most are living in wretched conditions beside roads, many sleeping in the open with little food and no clean water. The Pakistani government says more than 20 million people need shelter, food and clean water.

Turkey has so far sent $10 million and humanitarian aid materials worth more than $2 million to Pakistan to help authorities cope with the disaster’s aftermath. Bağış said two C-130 military cargo planes would soon deliver medical aid materials to Pakistan. In a statement released late on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry said Turkey will also set up two field hospitals, each to be manned by 20-member health teams, in the coming days.

Turkey is also planning to send supplies to the disaster-hit country by train. In cooperation with the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) is going to send 500 tons of aid supplies to Islamabad by train.

Nongovernmental organizations and municipalities are also active in aid efforts. On Friday, the Ankara Municipality announced in a statement that it would send 75 tons of food and hygiene supplies on planes and trucks to Pakistan, as well as four mobile bakeries.

Several Turkish charity organizations have launched aid campaigns, calling for individual donations to extend a helping hand to Pakistan. One of them, Kimse Yok Mu, has so far distributed 30 tons of supplies, from baby food to medicine. The charity has also collected $200,000 in cash to assist the country.

The association is also running a campaign in which anyone can donate TL 5 by writing PAKISTAN in a text message on their cell phone and sending it to 5777. The Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) is also in Pakistan, distributing hot meals to 5,000 people affected by the floods. The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) has also announced that it will send $1 million in cash to Pakistan.

Turkey has traditionally had close ties with Pakistan and aid efforts, so far modest compared to similar disasters in the past, are expected to increase as many Turks have come to realize the magnitude of the disaster only recently. “Today is the day to extend a fast, strong and determined hand to help Pakistan,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a message delivered to the UN General Assembly, read out at Thursday’s meeting by Bağış. At Thursday’s special General Assembly session, the United Nations appeared to have met its target of $460 million in immediate aid for flood Pakistan after nations significantly upped their pledges.

‘We were late in realizing how big the disaster was’

Admitting that there is a low level of public interest in floods that hit Pakistan in Turkey, Burhan Kayatürk, who heads Parliament’s Pakistan caucus, told Today’s Zaman in an interview that there were now serious steps being taken both in Turkey and across the world to help Pakistan.

“The only problem was that we did not immediately realize the scope of the disaster. The low level of interest does not stem from a lack of sympathy for Pakistan,” he said, emphasizing that the widespread public perception was that what happened in Pakistan was commonplace. “Pakistan, however, is going through one of the worst disasters in its history. While it is still trying to recover after two devastating earthquakes in recent years, it has been hit by floods that affected 20 million people and created internal seas within the country,” he said. “We were late in realizing how big it was.”