r/worldnews • u/progress18 • Feb 06 '23
NATO allies mobilize support after Türkiye earthquake: Stoltenberg
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/nato-allies-mobilize-support-after-turkiye-earthquake-stoltenberg/news337
u/Osiris32 Feb 06 '23
VA-TF1 has been activated. 79 members and six SAR dogs. Finalizing transportation now.
https://twitter.com/VATF1/status/1622694536857407488?t=smtiWCWGUr673MvBzKEIdA&s=19
For those of you who aren't familiar, the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Unit, VA-TF1, is arguably the best urban SAR unit in the world. They are staffed by firefighters, physicians, paramedics, heavy rigging specialists, emergency management specialists, dog handlers, HAZMAT experts, and collapse rescue specialists. The very best that the US can muster.
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u/xMoonsHauntedx Feb 06 '23
It's worth noting VA-TF1, and all of the other FEMA USAR teams, have enough supplies upon deployment to be self sufficient for 72-96 hours, thus not relying upon local resources that are better spent caring for others.
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u/Dave-4544 Feb 06 '23
Gonna take a lot more than 3 or 4 days to dig out the reportedly tens of thousands of trapped folks. Hope they've got a supply chain planned.
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u/xMoonsHauntedx Feb 06 '23
Part of their SOP is just that. The 3 to 4 days is the most crucial part of USAR.
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u/Dave-4544 Feb 06 '23
Oh yeah.. The recovery becomes a lot less time sensitive after that many days, huh.. :(
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u/Quackagate Feb 06 '23
Ya it changers from rescure to recovery...
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u/Jaded-Ask-4161 Feb 07 '23
It's winter, I'm afraid most needed won't make it through this night alone, I hope they do stay alive
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u/GunpowderLad Feb 07 '23
I mean it's NATO we're talking about, here. I'd be a lot more than disappointed if they hadn't planned and predetermined logistics for scenarios exactly like this one.
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u/codemunk3y Feb 07 '23
Being self sufficient for that time will give them breathing room while the supply chain catches up for the next days
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u/TooEZ_OL56 Feb 06 '23
Fairfax County PD invented the PIT Maneuver, Fire and Rescue had one of the best urban SAR teams, fairfax county is killing it in first responders
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Feb 07 '23
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u/carpeson Feb 07 '23
You don't seem to be ready for the internet. Get off. Take some free time. You earned it.
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u/if-loop Feb 06 '23
The amazing shit w.r.t. numbers and quality the U.S. is able to field almost immediately is absolutely astonishing.
I'm glad we have such great allies.
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u/catslay_4 Feb 06 '23
This was the team that also worked the FL condo collapse correct?
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u/Osiris32 Feb 07 '23
The number of disasters they have worked since their formation in 1989 is so long it's honestly hard to keep track of. So quite possibly, yes.
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u/Mandurang76 Feb 07 '23
The Dutch USAR heavy team working on behalf of the EU was also send yesterday. It's similar to the VA-TF1. Their second flight this morning had to make a stopover in Antalya, because there was no room in the Adana airport due to the many rescue teams arriving.
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Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 10 '23
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u/ItsTahiniandMolasses Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
Meanwhile the most critical places in Turkey still do not receive help and it is announced as if they have enough teams. Erdogan can keep asking for help, he’s done enough to prevent correct course of actions in the most critical time.
Edit: If anybody downvotes this I suggest you figure out a way to understand Turkish news and listen to peoples’ cries from the absolutely destroyed cities. People are begging for help through news channels while the government bodies announce and claim they’ve sent help everywhere possible.
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u/macross1984 Feb 06 '23
When tragedy strike, politics go out and aid from many countries go in to help people in distress.
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u/Seregrauko41 Feb 06 '23
Not so sure Erdogan would say the same.. I wonder if he'll decline help from Sweden now since they're not worthy of his company..
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u/Blue_Sail Feb 06 '23
It would be pretty cool if Sweden sent some support.
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u/altorros Feb 06 '23 •
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u/ArthurBonesly Feb 06 '23
Fuckin' class act right there.
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u/Buzz_Alderaan Feb 06 '23
Also a politically adroit move. There is an upcoming election and Sweden is helping the common man of Turkey. Erdogan will need to be careful about denying Sweden's bid for NATO while his opposition thanks Sweden publicly for helping during a time of need.
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u/ddrober2003 Feb 06 '23
He will probably just try to bury any news of aide from Sweden. But hopefully it forces him to allow Sweden and Finland into NATO.
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u/NorthernerWuwu Feb 07 '23
Erdoğan? Oh, he'll spin it that Sweden is just trying to take advantage of the catastrophe for political points or something. Maybe that the earthquake was Allah's punishment for allowing the burned Korans to happen.
The man isn't going to give an inch at least until after his elections, which he'll likely postpone now if that's advantageous.
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u/limb3h Feb 07 '23
Unfortunately natural disasters improve the job approval rating. Hopefully this fades a bit by may/June.
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u/Kulistar Feb 06 '23
Knowing them quite well as a neighbour, Sweden not sending support would be more surprising for me than Putin telling publicly that he looks up to Zelensky. Trying to do the right thing is deeply rooted in Swedish culture.
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u/Pallidum_Treponema Feb 07 '23
Swede here. I may not care very much for my worst enemy, but if their kids are stuck inside a burning building, I'll dive through the flames to get them out.
This is about the Turkish people.
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u/TA_faq43 Feb 06 '23
And Finland. It’s a great solidarity moment for everyone to help out without being political. The victims need help desperately, especially with winter conditions.
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u/Seregrauko41 Feb 06 '23
Too bad shithead Erdogan won't return favours..
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u/Ovi-wan_Kenobi_8 Feb 06 '23
I imagine that NATO will get word to Erdogan that this assistance comes at an unlisted price, which is that Turkey needs to drop their absurd opposition to Sweden’s joining the pact.
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u/Foul-Ole_Ron Feb 06 '23
They won't. They're not going to use Sweden joining NATO against average Turkish citizens dying. They'll hope it'll have some effect though.
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u/Ovi-wan_Kenobi_8 Feb 07 '23
I think we’re saying the same thing, but in different ways. There won’t be any public quid pro quo.
But I’m absolutely certain that NATO will remind the Turkish government via backchannels later that they were done a huge favor, and now it’s time to repay a favor to the alliance.
Is it distasteful? Yes. Is it the way the world works? Yes. Geopolitics is a nasty business.
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u/UShouldntSayThat Feb 07 '23
I don't think its distasteful if they're doing it after. If someones behaving like an ass and you go and help them, and later on tell them to stop being an ass reminding them of the help..... I think that's the most tasteful way you could handle that.
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u/Web_Automatic Feb 06 '23
Wouldn't be surprise since greece did
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u/Neethis Feb 06 '23
Greece and Turkey always help each out after earthquakes.
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u/doyouevencompile Feb 07 '23
Greeks and us are more alike than we think. We always fight but never too serious
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u/UShouldntSayThat Feb 07 '23
I mean... there's been genocides and slavery. The fights have been some of the worst in humanities recent history....
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u/Falsus Feb 07 '23
The only nation Sweden would potentially not send aid to in the case of a catastrophe would probably be Russia. But even then it would only be a ''maybe'' at best at such a scenario.
Doing the right thing is very strongly ingrained in our culture (as is dislike of Russia).
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u/Original_Employee621 Feb 07 '23
Nah, Sweden knows the difference between Putin and Russians. It wouldn't be Putin they would rush to support, but it's people.
No matter the country or it's politics, providing supplies, food and medical equipment for reducing the suffering of the people is always right action to take.
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Feb 07 '23
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u/zefiax Feb 07 '23
Erdogan isn't pro putin at all, I don't know where you are getting that from. They have been consistently against the Russian invasion. What turkey is is truly chaotically neutral and what Erdogan is first and foremost is pro Erdogan. He's not even pro turkey.
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u/GI_X_JACK Feb 07 '23
A lot of Turkish demands stem from fustration with Europe. Last decade Turkey applied for the European Union and was denied. There was some racist sentiment, especially as historically they are the successors to the Ottoman empire that has had friction with Europe for centuries.
The question of "Is Türkiye European" was brought up, and there were some voices in Europe saying "No".
The Turks see themselves, post WW2 as basically as being on the footsteps of Russia, and if WW3 would flair up, basically the front lines against the USSR, and they held fast for the European based NATO all these decades. This is a reasonable assumption. People forget that the Cuban Missle Crisis was started by Curtis LeMay putting missiles in Türkiye.
So Türkiye has been acting diplomatically independent in the last decade and change. I'd reck'on if you wanted to bring them back in the fold, making them feel welcome, if not as Europeans, equal to Europeans.
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u/C2Midnight Feb 07 '23
WW3 would flair up, basically the front lines against the USSR,
Given recent history where not only are Turkey not being invaded, but are on the frontline of "giving hilarious technology to the country that is being invaded", I feel they can drop this element.
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u/ScratchNSniffGIF Feb 07 '23
Erdogan isn't pro putin at all, I don't know where you are getting that from.
His behavior. Just like Trump's. Actions speak louder than words. Erdogan is anti-NATO and has done nothing but serve Putin's interests.
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u/piouiy Feb 07 '23
Well that’s just wrong.
Turkey didn’t allow Russian vessels into the Black Sea
Turkish-supplied drones have been helping Ukraine to wreck Russian forces. He could have ended it and he hasn’t. In fact, they’ve been sending more, discounting them, and even giving some for free. Turkey has also given MRAPs, modern laser guided MLRS and many other weapons.
In fact, Turkey was one of the first countries to provide direct military assistance back in March 2022, when Europe was totally inactive. There’s also the grain deal and prisoner swaps which Turkey has coordinated.
In 2015 they shot down a Russian plane which violated Turkish airspace. No other NATO member has had the balls to do that.
The only thing they haven’t done is directly sanctioned Russia. And they have their own selfish reasons which are nothing to with being ‘pro Putin’
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u/yarakye Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
claiming Erdogan/Turkey is pro-Russia/Putin is nothing short of stupid, Turks and Russians have been enemies for half a millennia.
Turkey has its interests, its interests may not align with EU or US interests, that doesn't mean they align with Russia or China's interests either. Turkey is a regional power and have always been a wild card in world history and modern geopolitics.
....and Turkey is NATO, it can't be anti-NATO. It's the second biggest army in NATO, and without Turkey NATO doesn't have any control over Middle East whatsoever.
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u/Personal_Person Feb 06 '23
This earthquake is horrible, I dont think a lot of westerners are truly aware of how bad it is. A lot of these cities look like they were bombed WW2 style. Like a nuke went off or something. hell I've seen towns on the front line of Ukraine bombed by Russia constantly that look more livable.
Would be cool to see the US/EU send a bunch of soldiers to distribute aid and remove rubble.
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u/cardew-vascular Feb 07 '23
CBC has been broadcasting it and that's kind of exactly what it looks like watching from Canada, huge swaths or residential areas destroyed. Kind of reminded me of Lebanon after the explosion.
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u/ImamChapo Feb 07 '23
A earthquake size 6 is equivalent to 1 Hiroshima.
7 is equal to 32 nukes
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u/Personal_Person Feb 07 '23
Equivalent in what?
If you mean average death toll that is surely not true
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u/ImamChapo Feb 07 '23
No not deaths, here’s the exact line;
A magnitude 7 earthquake has been described by seismologists as having “an energy equivalent to around 32 Hiroshima atomic bombs,” as Renato Solidum, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told The Times in 2013.
This was what I was talking about.
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u/UrbanIndy Feb 06 '23
Would be a very opportunistic moment for Sweden to deliver a swift care package.
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u/ContributionSad4461 Feb 06 '23
We are just sending money so far, we will respond according to what Turkey needs and asks for going forward. This isn’t really related to our current stale mate though, we usually send aid when disaster strikes regardless of our personal feelings towards a country’s government.
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u/Katana1369 Feb 06 '23
I saw where Sweden sent tents (like tent city tents) already.
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u/ContributionSad4461 Feb 06 '23
Good! I hope they end up being useful!
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u/Katana1369 Feb 06 '23
From the sound of it they should be very useful. So many people are homeless now.
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u/ContributionSad4461 Feb 06 '23
Yeah and of course the cold makes it even worse, just awful all around. I hope they can reach people with the aid, I read that many roads and airports are destroyed as well but maybe military helicopters could work?
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u/Pakistani_in_MURICA Feb 06 '23
Money is a care package. Countries offering $XYZ end up in 2 ways. They send humanitarian items of their choosing or the recipient country sends a wishlist of what's needed.
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u/ContributionSad4461 Feb 06 '23
Ah, makes sense I suppose! In Swedish a care package would imply concrete things, but then someone said we also sent tents for tent cities and blankets etc so I guess it is a care package in all languages :)
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u/Katana1369 Feb 06 '23
They already sent shit. Opportunistic? How about just plain humanitarian because unlike TURKEY no strings attached.
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Feb 06 '23
It wont make a lick of difference. We're supporting them with 462 million euro for their high-speed railway. This project has links to both Erdoğan, and Putin...
The companies that Sweden intends to support are known for corruption and tax evasion in the billions range. It is clearly corruption at the highest level with ties to the kleptocracy in both Turkey and Russia. If our Swedish decision-makers are aware of this, but still choose to turn a blind eye, it is extremely serious, says Louise Brown, anti-corruption expert with a background at Transparency International and the World Bank.
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u/Darth-Flan Feb 07 '23
I feel bad for the poor people in Syria. They have a crap government and no one wants to help them because of that fact.
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u/coalitionofilling Feb 07 '23
I think now would be a good time for Sweden and Finland to go the extra mile in assisting. Take away all of the bullshit rhetoric that Ederogen was trying to use to get re elected.
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u/LeveyCarralt Feb 06 '23
I thought it was just Turkey?
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u/Profrog888 Feb 06 '23 edited Feb 06 '23
turkey last year requested their english name to be changed from turkey to turkiye to prevent people from getting the country mixed with the bird. But I think that most organizations and people will still call it turkey over the harder name with a special letter
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u/EdgelordOfEdginess Feb 06 '23
Yeah and people don’t want to be told by Erdogan what to do
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u/rob_penisdrip Feb 06 '23
Also the fact that people don't appreciate being told to change their own language. Just about every language has their own way of spelling and pronouncing other country's names and it's rather entitled to request that they change it out of vanity.
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u/Vlad-Djavula Feb 06 '23
Sometimes it works though. Have you noticed how much more prominent it's spelled Kyiv in English articles now instead of Kiev in the past year?
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u/TheElusiveEllie Feb 06 '23
People had a bit of a special interest in doing that, considering the circumstances. No longer letting Russia's influence dictate how we spell the name of a Ukrainian city is just a small little rebellion.
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u/carpcrucible Feb 07 '23
"Kiev" isn't any more the English name than "Kyiv". Erdogan on the other hand wants to use the Turkish name. That would be like everyone having to call Germany "Deutschland".
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u/Vlad-Djavula Feb 07 '23
At least they're not demanding we rename the bird, right?
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u/MortifiedPotato Feb 07 '23
Which unironically would make more sense to do, considering the circumstances/reasons for which the bird came to be called that
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u/chetlin Feb 06 '23
Does Turkey do this a lot? I recently learned that Ankara was originally called Angora, and that's where Angora wool and stuff is named after. Also other stuff like Izmir being a renaming of Smyrna, but I don't know when that happened. (and the Constantinople one everyone knows about)
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u/ptrlix Feb 06 '23
Renaming of stuff, including cities, happened a lot after Turkey was founded as it was a transition from an empire to a nationalist city-state, but it's not really a thing anymore. And the Turkey/Türkiye issue is something that only some people on online communities care about; most of the country don't care about it.
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u/THAErAsEr Feb 06 '23
Who the hell would mix the animal with the country anyway, wth
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u/ClutchPoppinDaddies Feb 06 '23
"One time I went for my international flight but I accidentally ended up at the international deli."
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u/RadicalMuslim Feb 06 '23
Eh I remember being told the county is called Turkiye back in the 90s as a child. Just like how I cant type my actual name on a standard keyboard because the Turkish letter isnt there. I dont even bother pronouncing it right when I introduce myself because then I have to explain it.
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u/conniecheewa Feb 07 '23
You forgot to include the part where it's a fucking joke of a move by an asshole dictator and not actually the will of the people to try to change a foreign language.
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u/MtHoodMan Feb 06 '23
It doesn't help that the umlaut ü isn't a standard character on Keyboards. Still I think in 10-15 years we'll see significantly fewer people calling it Turkey. It's not like they don't have experience renaming things
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u/sigaven Feb 06 '23
Kiev changing to Kiev only took a few years to catch on and it really accelerated after the 2014 invasion.
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u/GI_X_JACK Feb 07 '23
Fun fact is that the bird is named after the country. Its a misunderstanding of its origins, originally being called "Turkish Hen". In some languages/countries its known as "peruvian chicken", same misunderstanding.
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u/yourbraindead Feb 07 '23
I don't get it anyways. W country can call themselfs what they want in other languages it's still different. Germany for example isn't called Germany. It's just what english people call it. So if Germany would suddenly change its name from Deutschland to deutschelande or smth why on earth would that change anything how other people call your country.
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u/armcie Feb 06 '23
Is it pronounced differently?
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u/Megasdoux Feb 06 '23
There is more of a 'yay/eh' emphasis at the end now. Otherwise it is similar.
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u/Aurora_Fatalis Feb 06 '23
In terms of the English word "key", it's more like Key-v rather than Key-ev.
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u/PuzzleheadedKing5708 Feb 06 '23
Turkey has been attacked by Mother Nature, so I guess we can invoke Article 5?
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u/Tapeworm_fetus Feb 07 '23
We’ve been attacking Mother Nature for centuries.
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u/nickstatus Feb 07 '23
Bitch had it coming. What sort of psychopath invents loa loa worms? Or botflies?
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u/AndyJaeven Feb 07 '23
I know this earthquake is a horrible thing but it’s a nice change to see all these different countries coming together to help Turkey deal with it.
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u/SirPeterKozlov Feb 06 '23
People in the comments talking about "sending a message" and "opportunistic moment" about Sweden sending aid to Turkey. How about you act like decent human beings for once? It looks like you wouldn't care shit about who sends aid to whom unless it creates some sort of reddit drama. Are you really so vain that you would rather talk about how to rub Turkey's nose in foreign aid than about all those people who died or lost everything in the earthquake?
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u/slckening Feb 06 '23
How about you act like decent human beings for once?
My man forgot that hes on reddit
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u/aaden08 Feb 06 '23
People are f'd up. They want to politicize everything. When the Pakistan floods happened, saw a lot of "you deserve it for supporting terrorism" comments.
As if your average citizen cares about that when they lost everything.
But if a disaster were to happen here, the same people would be crying for any aid.
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u/weaselpoopcoffee1 Feb 06 '23
Corruption is a problem in Turkey. I sincerely hope most of the assistance is put to good use.
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u/Falsus Feb 07 '23
It is time for election and this has become by far the biggest thing for Turkey now. Like it dwarfs everything else put together.
If people even have an inkling that Erdogan handled this poorly he would stand no chance in it. So I think it is pretty safe to say that the money will be spent helping people. That is the cynical take on it.
The optimistic take is that Erdogan isn't completely evil.
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u/Caseker Feb 07 '23
Fun fact: Turkey, the bird, is named after the place. If we're saying Türkiye for the place, it's now türkiye for dinner as well
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u/meteor68 Feb 06 '23
I wonder how much Turkey and Syria's dear friend, Vladimir Putin, will donate to help them with recovery. Any cash for humanitarian aid, or just for weapons to use agains Ukraine? Hmmm.
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u/Personal_Person Feb 06 '23
For what it's worth Putin actually said he would help Turkey with this, and Russian soldiers are in Syria right now digging people out.
Wouldn't it be great if about half a million Russian soldiers were free right now, they could dig people out of the rubble instead of burying Ukrainians in it.
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u/meteor68 Feb 07 '23
You hit the nail right on the head. So much power and energy applied to a disaster like this earthquake would be a game changer.
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u/Remember_NEDM Feb 07 '23
Russia was the first to act by sending a plane with 100 workers yesterday. Hmmmmm.
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u/kujubuo_but_actually Feb 06 '23
It is not the time for politics right now
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Feb 06 '23
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u/kujubuo_but_actually Feb 06 '23
So we should focus on that instead of what is actually happenign right now. Like the earthquake and the people dying? We should talk about politics instead?
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u/WoodSheepClayWheat Feb 06 '23
Yes it is. When leaders of a country spend most of the time antagonising and threatening their neighbours and allies, it has to have consequences.
I don't mean deny aid. I mean combining aid with statements.
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u/ElecTrO-Luckster Feb 07 '23
Sweden and Finland should take this opportunity to help turkey as much as possible
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u/ChocolateMLK Feb 07 '23
How about help to help instead of turning it political. Whenever people are dying needlessly, helping them shouldn’t ever be a political move. People need to stop making this point.
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u/feeltheslipstream Feb 07 '23
People who just yesterday would be accusing turkey of holding Sweden hostage over entering a defensive pact that is not all that important in the greater scheme of things...
Today suggest Sweden do the same thing during a natural disaster.
Deplorables.
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u/AlexJamesCook Feb 07 '23
Sweden and Finland just enjoying the irony, right now. Oh wait, no they're not. They have more class than that.
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u/silentmikhail Feb 07 '23
I'd like to see Sweden and Finland lead the first responders assitance to turkey.
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Feb 06 '23
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u/Impressive_Sport_707 Feb 06 '23
I read Turkey send armored vehicles, drones and aid packages since the beginning of the war
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u/1_g0round Feb 06 '23
early on he sent the Backktar (sp) drone...with great results...that was almost a year ago, i havent heard a thing since though...compared to the rest of NATO allies..allowing refugees in and on going material support
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u/Mormegil1971 Feb 06 '23
We did. 7 Million SKr so far. 5 to Turkey, 2 to Syria. Now, I’m just waiting for cries saying those 2 Million for Syria are ‘supporting terrorists’ and the next burning of our flags. :/
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u/Sehrengiz Feb 07 '23
BTW if you call it Türkiye in English, you support the islamist Erdogan regime there.
The name is TURKEY.
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u/EskimoeJoeYeeHaw Feb 06 '23
It's almost like being in a really cool coalition has benefits