Canada, Turkey could alleviate global humanitarian crises together

OTTAWA—Turkey has traditionally been a land that offered safe haven to many people from different religions, races, and languages throughout history. Turkish people have opened their homes and hearts to those forced to leave their homelands for various reasons, including violence. Turkey’s open-door policy will continue. The Turkish nation’s attitude towards migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers has always been based on tolerance and hospitality. Crimean Tatars, Poles, Swedes, Hungarians, Russians, Jews escaping the Inquisition or Nazi Germany, Afghans, Bosnians, Kosovars, Macedonians, Iraqi Kurds, and lately Syrians and Iraqis have all taken refuge in our territories. Those people belonged to many different ethnic and religious backgrounds, yet one thing they all shared was the trust they had for Turkey: a safe harbour. In that respect, like Canada, Turkey has become home to many peoples from different cultures living in harmony. Since the start of the crisis, more than 50,000 Syrians have arrived in Canada and close to 5,000 of them came from Turkey. However, if the Responsibility to Protect principle put forward by Canada to the UN in 2005 were to have been followed at the outset of the Syrian crisis, things could have been very different. Today, Canada is one of the few countries that should be thanked since it has accepted Syrians, while other countries are still sitting on the fence. From the day the Ottomans helped the Irish during the Great Famine in 1847 until now, the magnitude of Turkey’s assistance has changed, but not its principles. Turkey is today hosting almost four million refugees from Syria and Iraq, being the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. Shouldering more than its fair share of multi-dimensional responsibilities and left alone, Turkey has spent almost US$32-billion so far. Turkish Ambassador Selçuk Ünal speaks with Syrian kids in 2015 at a refugee camp for Syrians in Gaziantep, Turkey. Photograph courtesy of Selçuk Ünal According to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2018, Turkey ranked the largest donor country worldwide, with its US$8-billion humanitarian assistance that year. Turkey is also the largest humanitarian donor when the ratio of official humanitarian assistance to national income is taken into consideration. Our contributions are not confined to bilateral assistance projects. Turkey has also been increasing its profile in international fora. The Turkish Red Crescent and Turkish non-governmental organizations are very active globally. In order to attract the world’s attention to different crises, Turkey hosted the first World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016, which serves as a unique platform for the global community to address alarming challenges. I believe both Canada and Turkey have many other common points in the humanitarian field. Together with Canada, Turkey is member of the 29-strong Donor Support Group to assist to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Canada has recently joined the Friends of Mediation Group, which Turkey and Finland founded in 2010. Turkey and Canada tabled a joint resolution on the International Year of the Girl Child on Oct. 11, 2012 to the UN, and continue to table one annually. Since then, Oct. 11 has been celebrated as the International Girl Child Day. Drawing from its own experiences, Turkey is a staunch supporter of international solidarity and partnership with a view to building a safer world, saving human lives, and breaking vicious circles in this field through combined use of humanitarian and development tools. This approach has especially been very successful in sub-Saharan Africa. Turkey’s presence in Somalia is an exemplary case. Turkey shall carry on working with responsible members of the international community like Canada for a more multilateral and norms-based order based on shared values and responsibilities. On the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Canada-Turkey diplomatic relations, the two NATO allies could have more avenues not only to meet needs, but to effectively reduce risks and vulnerabilities over time as well as to work on the humanitarian crises humanity will be facing. Selçuk Ünal is the ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Canada. The Hill Times

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Canada, Turkey could alleviate global humanitarian crises together

Turkey is today hosting almost four million refugees from Syria and Iraq, and is the largest refugee-hosting country in the world.

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