Friendships New and Old: Alliance-building and identity construction in the wake of the Turkish earthquakes
The whole world has heard about the devastating event that occurred in Turkey and Syria on February 6. An earthquake with magnitude 7.8 struck the region in the early hours of this morning, and as of this article has resulted in the deaths of over 45,000 people. Another, smaller earthquake with magnitude 6.3 hit the area again a few days ago, causing even more casualties. Much of the damage was due to the fact that many residents of the area were at home, and few buildings had proper infrastructure for an earthquake of this intensity. The long-term effects of this disaster will surely be felt in Turkey and the general surrounding region for years to come. In the short term, however, the event has been followed up by an outpouring of aid and relief from countries around the world and is being used as an opportunity to create or develop existing relationships. It is also a chance for identity construction for nations who believe themselves to be humanitarian or committed to globalisation. Scholars can examine both the responses of the international community to the earthquake as a way to understand what identity has been, or is attempting to be constructed, by different states.
An emerging field in International Relations called Ontological Security Studies is based on the very concept of states’ identity. Mainstream theories such as realism or liberalism operate on the central assumption that states are rational actors who are making logical decisions for their own best interests - indeed, this is one of the first things all IR students learn. Scholars of OSS, however, argue that states make decisions in order to best preserve their identities and the ontological narrative that they have constructed about the nation’s history and culture. Making a decision contrary to this narrative will cause the state to feel ontological insecurity, a feeling of anxiety about being essentially out of character. In this way, actions taken by states which might be unexplainable by realist scholars because they seem irrational can be seen by OS scholars as an attempt by the state to preserve their ontological security. An example of this is given by Steele, who argues that the British lack of involvement in the American Civil War was because the British identity was constructed as anti-slavery, so supporting the Confederacy would have put the ontological security of the British Empire in jeopardy.
In recent years, Turkey has constructed itself as a humanitarian country, sending aid to countries during the Arab Spring, to Somalia, and the Rohingya people in Myanmar, among others. It is also hosting the world’s largest population of Syrian refugees, and although there is controversy about the living conditions and treatment of the refugees, the hosting itself is seen as an act of humanitarian goodwill in the international community. Multiple world leaders have, in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake, cited Turkey’s history as a leader in humanitarian aid as a reason for providing it with aid at this time. For example, Ned Price, US State Department spokesperson, said that the United States would aid Turkey ‘just as Turkey has so often contributed its own humanitarian rescue experts to so many other countries in the past.’ Many countries see the earthquake as the time to give back to a country which has done so much for others in the past. It also becomes a sign of humanitarianism and philanthropy to set aside political disagreements and disputes, focusingon alleviating the disaster. In this way, countries which have historically had tensions or negative relationships with Turkey, such as Israel, Armenia, and Greece, have all sent help after the earthquakes.
The earthquake has also given states a chance to announce their relationship to Turkey through concrete action. Pakistan, a country which has historically maintained close relations with Turkey due to both their Muslim-majority populations, has promised to help the country that ‘went the extra mile to help their brothers and sisters, whether it was an earthquake in 2005, floods in 2010, or floods last year in Pakistan.’ In an embarrassing twist, however, it was revealed that the aid donated to Turkey from Pakistan was, in fact, just repackaged aid that Turkey had sent Pakistan after the destructive floods in 2022. It’s interesting that Pakistan, which is in the midst of an economic meltdown and is currently seeking a bail-out, preferred to re-gift aid packages and run the risk of being discovered, rather than not send aid at all because of their financial situation. The need to demonstrate allyship and to personify a humanitarian identity can be seen to, in this situation, be more of a priority than the rational decision to save the little money the country has left.
Another country which sent aid to Turkey in the midst of their own crisis was Ukraine, which has been resisting Russian invasion for over a year. A team of 88 specialists were deployed from Kyiv to help aid recovery and search-and-rescue efforts in Turkey. The act signals a multitude of things about the desired perception of the state of Ukraine and of the identity which it embodies, as well as the relationships it seeks to cultivate to help win the war. Firstly, Ukrainian president Zelensky hopes to demonstrate that Ukraine is doing well enough in the war to send resources to another country. Additionally, sending aid shows Ukraine to be a humanitarian and selfless country, concerned with helping others even during its own crisis. The act can also be seen as a show of gratitude for the famous Bayraktar drones sent by Turkey to Ukraine at the start of the war. More strategically, Turkish aid could be very valuable to Ukraine in the war against Russia, not least because of Turkey’s NATO membership, which is just another reason for the disaster relief sent by Ukraine. On the other hand, Russia has also sent search teams to Turkey in its own attempt to construct a humanitarian identity in the wake of a disaster.
In conclusion, examining the responses of the international community to what can be easily portrayed as an apolitical natural disaster can reveal what different states are trying to portray about themselves, and about their status in relation to other states. These actions are in part strategic, yes, but on another level, they are an affirmation of every country’s values and friendships, which are an essential part of nation-building. In this way, we can see that actions which are not necessarily rational - such as the Pakistani regifting - are attempts to affirm relations or to demonstrate some aspect of desired self-identity by any means possible.
Image by Mahmut Bozarslan via Wikimedia, ©2023, some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
