23/08/2011
Turkey has launched a number of aid campaigns to help famine stricken Somalia, but some argue the government is playing politics.
By Alakbar Raufoglu for Southeast European Times -- 23/08/11
 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Emine, was the first non-African leader to visit Somalia in over 20 years. [Reuters] |
Turkey is spearheading world efforts to extend aid to drought-hit Somalia, where an estimated 3.2 million Somalis are at risk of starvation, with 400,000 children at the risk of death, according to the UN.
Following a meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul, Erdogan announced the Muslim nations had pledged $350m in aid. This is in addition to $115m in private donations made by the Turkish public during the holy month of Ramadan.
The first Turkish ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of aid -- including health equipment, clothes, tents, blankets, as well as ambulances and generators -- left Istanbul for Somalia last week.
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According to the Turkish Armed Forces, a frigate will accompany the aid vessel and then join international forces in the region to fight piracy.
As for Turkey's impact, Erdogan pledged to reopen a hospital compound, build roads, schools and wells, in addition to other aid.
Ali Aslik, MP from Erdogan's Justice and Develpment Party (AKP), says the prime minister's visit increases the public's interest in charity.
"Time is running out for the Somalian people and we can't be silent about it," he told SETimes, adding that Erdogan's visit has sped up international aid as well.
Mehmet Altan, Turkish daily Star's chief columnist, who followed Erdogan to Somalia, says that although the visit had humanitarian purposes, there were some political dimensions behind it as well.
"It looks like, for some of our politicians, helping Somalia is likely part of government supported political propaganda," he says, arguing it was meaningless to demonstrate that Turkey's help to Somalia was the largest in the world.
There are two types of approaches in Turkey regarding help to Somalia, Altan says.
"For those who support the AKP government, the distribution of this aid is a demonstration of Muslim unity and Islamic sensitivity, while most other people actually donated the aid due to their humanitarian feelings."
For Aytun Ciray, a member of parliament's Committee on Social Affairs from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkey's aid to Somalia doesn't look systematic because of the Turkish government's internal political interest.
"The humanitarian aid shouldn't be used for political advertising; this shouldn't be turned into a show," he told SETimes. "We should immediately help those people. The death of Somali children to infection is not acceptable," he said.
Humanitarian aid to Somalians should be launched under an international mandate, such as the UN, Ciray said, rather than by some individuals.
Meanwhile, he called on his voters to actively donate to the Somalia campaign. CHP leader Kemal Kılıcdaroglu will leave for Mogadishu on August 30th -- the first day of the end of Ramadan feast, 'Seker Bayram'.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
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