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The Greek–Turkish earthquake diplomacy ( el, Διπλωματία των σεισμών, Diplomatía ton seismón; ) was initiated after successive
earthquakes An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
hit both countries in the summer of 1999 and led to an improvement in Greek–Turkish relations. Prior to this, relations between the two countries had been generally volatile ever since the Istanbul pogrom. The so-called earthquake diplomacy generated an outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance provided by ordinary
Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
and
Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
in both cases. Such acts were encouraged from the top and took many foreigners by surprise. They prepared the public for a breakthrough in bilateral relations, which had been marred by decades of mutual hostility.


Greek aid


Successive earthquakes

On August 17, 1999, at 3:02 am,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
experienced a very large earthquake centered around the Gölcük and
Arifiye Arifiye is a district center of Sakarya Province, Turkey. It is also included in Greater Sakarya Proper. Geography Arifiye is situated at just at the east of Lake Sapanca. It is almost merged to Adapazarı the center of the province and it ...
areas in
Adapazarı Adapazarı () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the central district of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country known as the Marmara Regi ...
. The most severely affected area was the industrial city of
İzmit İzmit () is a district and the central district of Kocaeli province, Turkey. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. As of the last 31/12/2019 estimation, the c ...
. The İzmit earthquake registered 7.6 on the
moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...
, lasted for 45 seconds, and had a maximum
Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...
of IX (''Violent''). The official number of casualties was about 17,000, although the numbers could be above 35,000. Three hundred thousand people were left homeless and the financial cost is estimated at about 3 billion dollars. Turkey's largest city,
Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...
, was also affected with many buildings damaged and deaths amounting to dozens of people. The rupture passed through major cities that are among the most industrialized and urban areas of the country, including
oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefi ...
, several
car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...
companies, and the
navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It i ...
headquarters and arsenal in Gölcük, thus increasing the severity of the life and property loss.


Greek reaction and aid management

The main characteristic of this particular human crisis was the difficulty of the Turkish authorities to apply any rational planning because of the magnitude of the disaster, and the fact that the majority of the Greek initiatives were undertaken not only by the government, but mainly and most importantly by local authorities,
NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active i ...
s and individuals. Greece was the first foreign country to pledge aid and support to Turkey. Within hours of the earthquake, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs had contacted their counterparts in Turkey, and the minister sent his personal envoys to Turkey. On August 17, 1999, and on November 13, 1999, the Greek Ministry of Public Order sent a rescue team of 24 people and two trained rescue dogs. The Ministry also sent fire extinguishing planes to help with putting out the fire in the Tupras refinery. The Secretariat of Civil Protections (working under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Interior Affairs) had previously sent a fully equipped medical team of 11 people, four of whom were doctors as well as thousands of tents, mobile hospital units, ambulances, medicine, water, clothes, foods and blankets. The Greek Ministry of Defence readied three C-130 planes for transportation of the Greek rescue team along with the equipment and the medicines. On August 18, 1999, the Ministry of Health set up three units for blood donations. The same day aid was sent by the
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
. On August 19, 1999, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up three receiving stations in Athens,
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
and
Komotini Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-p ...
, whose purpose was the gathering of the citizens' spontaneous help. After August 19, the hospitals of Komotini and
Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mo ...
set up their own units for blood donations, and the
Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It ...
initiated a fund raiser.Karkatsoulis, pp.304–307 On August 24, 1999, the five biggest municipalities of Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki,
Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saroni ...
,
Patras Patras ( el, Πάτρα, Pátra ; Katharevousa and grc, Πάτραι; la, Patrae) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is b ...
,
Herakleion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...
) sent a joint convoy with aid. The municipality of Thessaloniki had started sending its own aid since August 19, 1999. On August 25, 1999, the National Association of Local Authorities (ΚΕΔΚΕ) offered 50,000,000 drachmas for the victims of the earthquake, and the Association of Local Authorities of
Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...
offered 30,000,000 drachmas to the Turkish ambassador in Athens. The same day, the municipality of Athens created a settlement for 1,000 persons with a nursery. Aid and equipped groups were also sent by the Greek Red Cross, the Athens' Medicine Association, and the Greek departments of the
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. Mai ...
and of the
Médecins du Monde ''Médecins du monde'' (MdM; ), or Doctors of the World, is an international humanitarian organization which provides emergency and long-term medical care to the world's most vulnerable people. It also advocates to end health inequities. It was f ...
. The Greek response to the earthquake received wide coverage in Turkey with newspaper headings such as "Friendship Time", "Friendly Hands in Black Days", "A Great Support Organization – Five Greek Municipalities say there is no flag or ideology in humanitarian aid", "Help Flows in from Neighbors – Russia first, Greece the most". Both the official response and dialog and the reactions of the ordinary Greek were given wide coverage almost every day in every newspaper and on every TV channel in Turkey. Incidents such as people bringing in food donations to municipalities in Greece and blood drives in Greece specifically to be sent to earthquake victims in Turkey were highlighted. The emotional language in reporting differed significantly from the usual rhetoric found in both countries—words such as "neighbor", "true friend" were given in the headlines. Officials in both countries used the emotional state of both populations to good effect, emphasizing at every opportunity that this was the time for a new understanding. When the Mayor of Athens came personally to visit the earthquake site, he was met on the tarmac by the Mayor of Istanbul. The Greek Chief Admiral Ioannides came to the retirement ceremony of the Turkish Chief Admiral Dervişoğlu where he was applauded for several minutes by the participants of the ceremony.


Turkey reciprocates

Less than a month after the Turkish disaster, on September 7, 1999, at 2:56 pm local time, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the city of Athens. This was the most devastating and costly natural disaster to hit the country in 20 years. The tremor had a very shallow
hypocenter In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy ...
and an epicenter close to the Athenian suburbs of Ano Liossia and
Acharnes Acharnes ( el, Αχαρνές, , before 1915: Μενίδι Menidi, ) is a northwestern suburb of Athens, Attica, Greece. With 106,943 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the most populous municipality in East Attica. It is part of the Athens Urban ...
, just away from the downtown area. A total of 143 people lost their lives in the disaster while more than 12,000 were treated for injuries. Though the death toll was relatively low, the damage to buildings and infrastructure in some of the city's northern and western suburbs was severe. This time, the Turkish side reciprocated the aid. A special taskforce was convened, consisting of the Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry, Turkish Armed Forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Greek Ambassador in
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...
was contacted to pledge aid. The Turkish aid was the first to arrive, with the first 20-person rescue team arriving at the site on a military plane within 13 hours after the earthquake. More followed within hours. The Greek consulates and embassy in Turkey had their phone lines jammed with Turks calling to find out whether they could donate blood and one volunteer contacted Ambassador Corantis, offering to donate his kidney for a "Greek in need".


2020 Izmir earthquake

In 2020, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit the western coast of Turkey, particularly the city of Izmir. Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy, he has been its president since 2016. He prev ...
called President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan Recep may refer to: People Surname * Aziz Recep (born 1992), German-Greek footballer * Sibel Recep (born 1987), Swedish pop singer Given name * Recep Adanır (born 1929), Turkish footballer * Recep Akdağ (born 1960), Turkish physician and po ...
to offer condolences, and the Greek government sent rescue teams to aid in rescue efforts.


2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake

Following a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake in
Kahramanmaraş Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahra ...
on 6 February 2023, Greece was the first country to respond, showing strong solidarity to Turkey with the humanitarian aid being escorted to the affected areas personally by high-level government officials, including the Greek Civil Protection Minister. Immediately after the earthquake, the Greek government sent a rescue squad to Turkey, as well as "additional equipment, medical supplies, blankets, tents", with approval from the Turkish government. Specifically, a team of 21 firefighters, 2 rescue dogs and a special rescue vehicle were dispatched to Turkey from
Elefsina Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest from the centre of Athens and is part of ...
on a
Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...
. Following the team was a fire brigade officer-engineer, 5 doctors and rescuers from the National Center for Emergency Care. Greek Prime minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy, he has been its president since 2016. He prev ...
phoned the Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to ...
, pledging further quake-relief assistance. Foreign Minister
Nikos Dendias Nikolaos "Nikos" Dendias ( el, Νικόλαος Δένδιας; born 7 October 1959) is a Greek lawyer and politician of the conservative New Democracy party. He is a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Athens, and was Minister for National ...
and Defence Minister
Panos Panagiotopoulos Panos Panagiotopoulos (Greek: Πάνος Παναγιωτόπουλος; born 11 December 1957) is a Greek politician from the New Democracy who was Minister for Culture and Sport from June 2013 to June 2014, having previously been Minister for ...
spoke with their Turkish counterparts,
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey since 24 November 2015. He previously served in the same position from August 2014 to August 2015. He is ...
and
Hulusi Akar Hulusi Akar (born 12 March 1952) is the current Turkish minister of defense and a former four-star Turkish Armed Forces general who served as the 29th chief of the Turkish General Staff. Akar also served as a brigade commander in various NATO en ...
, to express their condolences and readiness for providing aid. Greece's swift response to the humanitarian crisis in Turkey contributed to the
hashtags A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
"Teşekkürler Yunanistan" and "Teşekkürler komşu", translating into "Thank you, Greece" and "Thank you, neighbor" respectively, becoming popular on Twitter. The German newspaper ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...
'' noted that the Greek aid comes despite severe diplomatic tensions in recent months and the Erdoğan's repeated threats to militarily invade Greece's islands. According to
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service cons ...
, these developments marked the revival of the earthquake diplomacy between the two countries, once again. On 8 February, more rescue teams departed from Greece for Turkey, including 15 firefighters and 3 lifesavers. Nation-wide campaigns to gather relief supplies such as blankets, clothes, milk powder, diapers, napkins, laundry detergents, serums, gauze, hand plasters, personal hygiene items, masks, gloves, antiseptics and medical equipment were initiated, and the items being gathered in Athens and Thessaloniki by humanitarian organizations and agencies, as well as in the smaller cities by the local municipalities and football federations. Additionally, the Greek PM ordered 5 airplanes full of health and medical equipment and basic necessities such as 7,500 blankets, 1,500 beds and 500 tents which can accommodate families and be used as mobile clinics, to be sent to Turkey. Reports and footage was released on that day, of Greek rescuers pulling people from the rubble in Hatay, including at least four children. On 9 February, and upon his arrival at the European Council meeting, the Greek PM Mitsotakis proposes a donor conference for Turkey to be held at Brussels, so that additional financial resources can be found to help rebuild the affected areas and announced that his country will also be at the forefront f these effortsfor organizing it. By 10 February, reportedly "thousands" of Greeks had responded to calls for aid to quake-hit Turkey, with the Athens offices of the Hellenic
Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
, pilling up with sleeping bags, blankets, milk cans and boxes of medicine. A convoy carrying 40 tonnes of aid left for Turkey early that day. On 12 February, Dendias traveled to Turkey, where was received by Çavuşoğlu. The two foreign ministers toured an operations centre in
Antakya Antakya (), historically known as Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια; hy, Անտիոք, Andiok), is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, ...
, observed the devastation to the city from the air, and visited a camp where international rescue teams are based. The humanitarian aid mission completed on midnight of February 13th, with a total 8 airplanes transferring and handing over the supplies to the Turkish authorities. The cost of transporting the humanitarian aid is covered by 75% by the European Civil Protection Mechanism, while the remaining 25% is sponsored by private Greek companies. On 15 February, the efforts continued with even more humanitarian aid being sent from Greece, with six trucks loaded with specific items requested by the Turkish side, such as blankets, tents, sleeping bags and chemical toilets. Additionally, 4 large containers with 50 tons of basic necessities are planned to be delivered through the Greek seaport of Patras two days later, on 17 February. Greek Olympic gold medalist
Miltiadis Tentoglou Miltiadis "Miltos" Tentoglou ( el, Μιλτιάδης Τεντόγλου ; born 18 March 1998) is a Greek long jumper. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2022, Tentoglou became the World Indoor champion jumping the current Gr ...
decided to auction his sports shoes which he worn in his
long jumping The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...
performance at the World Athletics Indoor Tour in France on 15 February, with the proceeds to be donated for the child victims of the quake.


See also

*
Greece–Turkey relations Relations between Greece and Turkey began in the 1830s following Greece's formation after its declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Modern relations began when Turkey declared its formation in 1923 following the defeat of the O ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greek-Turkish earthquake diplomacy Greece–Turkey relations International responses to natural disasters 1999 in international relations 1999 in Greece 1999 in Turkey