Urgent Message to DFAT regarding Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Federation delegates recently met with the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade officials to discuss our concerns and requests, which are further outlined here.

We are issuing this urgent statement on behalf of our community members across Australia in the face of the devastating earthquakes of the last few days, across predominantly Kurdish regions of Syria and Turkey.

These earthquakes have registered a magnitude of 7.8, striking at the heart of southern Turkey and northern Syria, with seismologists stating that these two earthquakes are the largest experienced in Turkey's history. Although absent from major news reports conducted in Australia, in both countries, the affected areas are predominantly Kurdish communities, who are historically economically and politically repressed by their respective states, and already severely disadvantaged. That the vast majority of victims are Kurdish is an important factor, as we have sadly seen it has impacted greatly on the level of official support victims in these regions have received, and the backlash against the documenting of this situation.

Already, the death toll has exceeded 20,000. Many thousands more are severely injured, and tens of thousands of children, women, and men remain buried under rubble, as the crucial 72 hour window for survival has passed. Both those buried and their surviving family and community members are at imminent risk of death, as rescue teams and locals struggle to contend with snow, rain, and a lack of resources to rescue people and to shelter survivors. The scale of destruction of human life and vital infrastructure is difficult to grasp, which is to say nothing of the expected longer term effects.

Our Kurdish community members in Australia are grief stricken, with news of the deaths of family members and loved ones reaching us here at a steady and devastating pace.

It is well known that Kurdish regions of Turkey are located precariously near major geologic fault lines, putting the region at risk of major earthquakes. Decades of colonial and systematic infrastructural underdevelopment mean emergency services are unable to reach some areas even when deployed. Despite a number of other deadly earthquakes affecting the region (including in 1999, 2011, and 2017) - and President Erdogan's admission that building standards there were overwhelmingly deficient in mitigating these well known threats - the state has taken no meaningful steps to protect the many thousands of lives at imminent risk of such catastrophes. Sufficient measures to address this well established risk have not been taken, and the lack of foresight in planning for the inevitable - coupled with the failure to respond in a timely manner to the current events - is negligent and borders on criminal.

South of Turkey, in Rojava/North and East Syria, a further 1,500 people are confirmed dead so far. This is a region already affected by the Turkish state’s ongoing campaigns of aggression and occupation. With hundreds of thousands within Syria recently displaced by Turkish military aggression, this earthquake in the dead of winter will deepen the humanitarian crisis affecting the peoples of the region, including Kurds, Arabs, Christians, and others.

Meanwhile, we have confirmed reports that the Turkish army continues to shell refugee camps near Tel Rıfat in Northern Syria. It is unfathomable that the resources of the Turkish State are able to mobilise and coordinate within the space of 24 hours to attack other regions, but not to assist its own citizens in critical need.

In 2011, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Kurdish region of Van, which experienced a similar lack of support from the government. The uninhabitable homes left as many as 8,321 households (with an average household population of around 7.6) homeless, amounting to over 60,000 homeless in total. Our Kurdish community in Australia raised crucial funds to aid in the recovery process of the city and its people. We were shocked and disappointed to discover much of this was never allowed past government agents to reach the people who desperately needed it. The current crisis is far, far greater in scale and we must learn from experience to prevent and mitigate the devastation of the countless thousands of human lives as much as we are able to.

Our sources on the ground, including through the People's Democratic Party in Turkey (the Kurdish led HDP) and the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor) are appealing for any and all resources to support their determined relief efforts. It has been well established that support from official Turkish state authorities has been severely lacking, and many of the worst affected regions of the Kurdish populated towns have yet to receive any official assistance. We are informed that Hatay and many other towns are still awaiting any sign of rescue teams or support from official sources, with local survivors and residents searching through the ruins for signs of life under life threatening conditions. We have further reports that access to twitter has been banned, with the internet being cut off in many areas in order to silence growing criticism, but this has also taken away crucial tools that citizens have been using to coordinate help and rescue amongst themselves.

The failure to immediately mobilise government forces to undertake rescue operations, to give aid and shelter and to restore infrastructure is unconscionable but sadly not surprising to those of us who have experienced many such instances of neglect of the most vulnerable by the current Turkish government under the leadership of Recip Tayipp Erdogan.

We understand that the Federal Government has pledged $10m in support to Turkey and Syria to aid in efforts. We welcome this as a first step, any and all resources and support are direly needed. We implore DFAT and all relevant government agents to closely monitor the delivery of these resources to ensure they do in fact reach the affected areas and the people so desperately in need of them.

So far, the most reliable force on the ground in conducting rescue efforts and providing shelter and other emergency assistance to survivors is the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor). We know from experience that the Erdogan regime will address this natural disaster cynically, with strong anti-Kurdish bias; especially in the lead up to the election. This is demonstrated by history, including the 2011 earthquake disaster, and by Turkey’s continuation of military attacks on refugee areas of Syria in the midst of these catastrophic events. We urge Australia to heed the call of the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor), who operate across Kurdistan, and help as much as possible to aid those affected by this tragedy, and mitigate the risk of these human lives falling victim to the political calculations of the Erdogan regime.

Federation of Democratic Kurdish Society - Australia