Listening to calls for help, the European Union will organize itself to come to the aid of Turkey and Syria. Brussels will organize a donors’ conference in early March for these two countries hit by violent earthquakes, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday.
“We are in a race against time to save lives together. Soon we will be providing emergency humanitarian aid, together. Turkey and Syria can count on the EU,” tweeted the European official. “No one should be left behind when a tragedy like this strikes a population,” she said in a statement.
This conference, organized in coordination with the Turkish authorities, “will be open to EU Member States, neighboring countries, UN members” and financial institutions, according to the Commission.
Minimum aid to Syria
The EU sent first aid to Turkey a few hours after the earthquake on Monday, at the country’s request. But it initially offered only minimal aid to Syria through existing humanitarian programs, due to international sanctions against the regime in Damascus that have been in place since the start of the war in Syria in 2011.
On Wednesday, the Syrian government officially requested EU assistance, through the Civil Protection Mechanism which coordinates European aid, and the Commission asked the Member States to respond favorably to this request, announced in in the morning the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic.
Under the Civil Protection Mechanism, 20 EU countries as well as Albania, Montenegro and Serbia have already pledged to provide Turkey with a total of 1,500 rescue workers, as well as 100 search and rescue dogs.