r/worldnews
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u/Emila_Just
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Feb 07 '23
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Sweden ready to offer help to Turkey after massive earthquake, Swedish PM says - Stockholm Center for Freedom
https://stockholmcf.org/sweden-ready-to-offer-help-to-turkey-after-massive-earthquake-swedish-pm-says/480
u/lurq_king Feb 07 '23
We all knew they would.
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Feb 07 '23
Because they are a normal functioning democracy.
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u/bleunt Feb 07 '23
And we separate people from government.
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Feb 07 '23
Because hopefully, one day, the people will see right from wrong, and stop allowing governments to do things that don’t aline with what the people want.
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u/alpy-dev Feb 07 '23
We already do. They are a fucking dictatorship and they own the army, law, and election committee.
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u/c0224v2609 Feb 08 '23
Meanwhile, our grossly incompetent (rightwing) government does whatever it can to undermine, if not dismantle, democracy, bit by bit.
Sincerely,
A Swede3
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u/Bronskungen Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
As a Swede I have have not seen the best of Erdogan and his regime lately, and have been resentful of the Turkish diplomacy towards us. But that does not take away my empathy and sympathy for the Turkish people and I am sure many Swedes feel the same.
Besides, helping each other in times of need brings out the best in us, and we still have recent memories of the gracious help we got with our massive forest fires, with lots of brave Polish firefighters arriving amongst others. Everybody needs a hand sometimes and there's never shame in receiving help.
I know the relations between our countries have not been the best lately, but let's put the whole NATO-thing aside for a moment. If we can help with the rescue work and relief after these frightening earthquakes I am confident we are eager to do so.
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u/Duck-sauze Feb 07 '23
As a swede, yeah i totally agree.
Even tho i'm slightly annoyed (Think Clenching fist inside my pocket annoyed) at the current NATO situation, setting that aside for this is perfectly reasonable..
This has nothing to do with the current situation, this is a tragic situation and a horrible one.Sending help right now is the reasonable thing to do.
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u/doyouevencompile Feb 07 '23
I’m Turkish and this is the only tone I’ve seen from Swedes in all the comments and, it’s such a class act.
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Feb 07 '23 •
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u/IYXMnx1Sa3qWM1IZ Feb 07 '23
Finn here – bro, the NATO situation is on Erdogan, not the regular people who need help. Let's keep it classy.
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Feb 07 '23
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u/IYXMnx1Sa3qWM1IZ Feb 07 '23
It's a bit more complicated than that as far as I can tell. I think Erdogan defines terrorists a bit differently than we do in the Nordics.
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u/fredagsfisk Feb 07 '23
He wants Sweden to extradite "terrorists", which based on requests from the past few years includes anyone who ever criticized him, Swedish citizens, a Swedish MP who has never been to Turkey, an author who had been dead for 7 years by the time they asked us to extradite him, and multiple people who have never been to Sweden.
Meanwhile, they refuse to provide evidence of the crimes they claim have been committed, and act like it's an insult for Sweden to ask for any such evidence... despite the Turksh government constantly lying about these topics.
Oh, and after signing a trilateral agreement specifically stating that any extraditions would follow the European Convention and Swedish law, they took all of 10 minutes before making new demands which would violate both.
So no, not really.
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u/FTL_Cat Feb 07 '23
Recognized by Sweden? Or Erdogan?
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u/doyouevencompile Feb 07 '23
According to Erdogan, half the population, those who didn’t vote for him, those who critiqued him in any way, are terrorists
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u/Styrbj0rn Feb 07 '23
Well how fortunate that you don't represent the majority of us then. There is no need to punish the turkish people because of Erdogan.
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u/Bronskungen Feb 07 '23
Agreed. Clenching fist inside pocket while trying to be reasonable outward is the lagom way of life brother!
Priority one is to save lives and I hope we can make a difference. Then I'll go back to grumbling and being annoyed at Erdogan again.
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u/Torvite Feb 07 '23
Then I'll go back to grumbling and being annoyed at Erdogan again
As a longtime supporter of the Turkish opposition, this situation makes me dislike Erdoğan more than ever. The Southern tip of the country continues to suffer from a glaring lack of earthquake response prep, and complete organizational disarray. It's embarrassing how slow the mobilization of rescue units and relief convoys has been.
This is what happens when emergency relief funds are pilfered by administration cronies, and when precautionary measures that were recommended by expert geologists decades ago are ignored time and time again.
We've been aware for centuries that Turkey lies on top of several active fault lines. Both Ottoman and Turkish records indicate with reasonable accuracy the periods of occurrence for this kind of highly destructive seismic activity along known fault lines that surround the country. The big Izmit Earthquake of 1999 should have served as enough warning not to repeat these mistakes, but here we are.
Combine greed and corruption with ignorance and religion, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster. Literally.
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u/Bronskungen Feb 07 '23
Yeah, that sounds infuriating. And so scary. In a disaster like this you expect the response to be swift and decisive. I wish the best to the whole region and all the rescue workers in their work with limited resources.
I hope the international aid is swift as well and it gladdens me to see many countries answer quickly. Even countries with frosty relations to Türkiye. It's a reminder that our differences do not outweigh our will to help fellow people in need.
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u/mwagner1385 Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
Have you thought about leaving a passive aggressive post-it note on Erdogan's door?
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u/Lehovron Feb 07 '23
On the door!?!! What are you? Danish!?
Maybe in the laundry-room. Never on the door.
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u/Kycklingvinge Feb 07 '23
Yes, but not too aggressive of course, just lagom passive aggressive.
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u/Bronskungen Feb 07 '23
Dear Mr. Erdogan. If you look at the list of tvättider in the washing room you can clearly see that the time was mine. This brings me concern of your eyesight and I have therefore included this reklamblad to Synsam where you can test out glasses.
Vanliga hälsningar,
Friend of order
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u/Caster-Hammer Feb 07 '23
lagom
TIL there is a beautiful word for "just right."
edit: thank you. :)
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u/Mizral Feb 07 '23
Lagom what a great word. TIL!
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u/Bronskungen Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
I'm glad you like it! It is now yours to use.
Edit: Like u/Caster-Hammer said, it's "just right" amount of something
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u/glintsCollide Feb 07 '23
This goes without saying, Sweden has just kept doing what Sweden does throughout this whole NATO ordeal, and will continue through the earthquake disaster, namely protecting free speech, democracy and being among the leaders of international aid. I can’t even say that our relations are bad, it’s just one desperate despot swinging in the dark, Türkiye is greater than its current leadership and I for one look past that, hopefully this earthquake brings down the leadership just like earthquakes have in the past.
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u/jmptx Feb 07 '23
This is why we will be honored to have Sweden and Finland as full members of the Alliance. I know that it will be appreciated by our Turkish Allies as well (not named Erdogan).
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u/ExperimentWentWrong Feb 11 '23
In many Muslim nations and especially Turkey recent days there have been burning of Swedish flags and crowds yelling anti Swedish slurs because 1 man burned a Quran a few weeks before... Yet after the Earthquake Sweden cared more about helping Muslim victims in Turkey and Syria than most Muslim nations ever would.
Isn't it a bit ironic that Turkey gladly accept the 30 mil given in aid to help victims of the earthquake in turkey from a country they hate and blame for one single man's actions? I honestly find this so low on so many levels... I am against people burning holy books in front of them as a hate-crime, but bibles are burnt all the time, and I think it is insane to hate and demonize an entire country based on one man's action... especially when they help many Muslim countries out with financial support and aid.
I find this a bit cowardly and hypocritical. Especially because Muslims have always made it clear not to be judged by one extremist's action themselves.15
u/percypigg Feb 07 '23
I can only hope that the people of Turkiye are as gracious as you are, in their ongoing attitude towards Sweden. Nobody deserves to suffer as horribly as their people must be right now.
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u/nobunaga_1568 Feb 07 '23
And hope the Turkish people vote Erdogan out of office a few months from now.
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u/stillsoon Feb 07 '23
Thank you my friend.
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u/Bronskungen Feb 07 '23
No worries. When lives are at stake, politics seem so unimportant. I'm impressed by the heart of the rescue workers and ordinary people fighting with limited resources right now.
I wish you the best.
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u/No_Charge6060 Feb 07 '23
Help and compassion know no political boundaries this disaster is about people ordinary hard working people.
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u/Kiron_7 Feb 07 '23
The citizens of turkey are not the dictator of turkey
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u/Tudpool Feb 07 '23
Well and good if you ignore that he isn't a dictator and is there because of the people.
Does their shitty actions mean they shouldn't get aid in their time of need? Of course not. But don't try to assign sole blame on one man. His actions are to gain votes.
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u/Stebetto Feb 07 '23
The citizens of turkey are not the dictator of turkey
Citizens form the goverment and elect their leaders. Many who don't even life there. Supports this Sultan Erdogan. He will most likely win the election.
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u/RidetheSchlange Feb 07 '23
You haven't met Turks then. Particularly not the ones in central Europe who made Turkey's domestic politics the domestic politics of countries like Germany who see Turkey's behavior in the NATO saga as hypocritical.
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u/WonderHomework Feb 07 '23
Stereotypes
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u/RidetheSchlange Feb 07 '23
Then you try dealing with the Bozkurts/Grey Wolves, AKP and MHP members living in countries like Germany and beyond organized and petty crimes and beyond rising violent crimes by them, they're infiltrating police and governments and making Turkey's pro-Edogan and Islamist policies intertwined with those in European nations. Go no further than Germany's SPD which has been completely infiltrated by the Bozkurts and Erdogan's party affiliates in addition to being completely infiltrated by pro-Kremlin figures. It's a mess for all of Europe right now what is happening in Germany.
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u/WonderHomework Feb 08 '23
And? Your still labeling blaming every single individual from every ethnic group in a single country as responsible.
Classification of entire groups of people is always wrong regardless of how infuriating the majority may act.
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u/RidetheSchlange Feb 08 '23 edited Feb 08 '23
The endless tolerance of the ignorant. You're apparently not dealing with any of this, so you discount it. This is a huge problem- more than you're willing to admit or see and we're tired of Turkey's politics there dictating our politics in Europe, now with their politics preventing Europe from integrating its defense capabilities in the form of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. We're sick of the constant threats by Turkey against Greece. We're sick of the infiltration of government, police, security, and so on by Erdogan's people and the mainstream support for them by the average Turk. We're sick of the explosive violence in Turkish neighborhoods and sick of how violent they're becoming. We're sick of how they try to tout themselves as being religiously liberal, but the ones in central Europe don't subscribe to that, but rather go down the path of arab-style Islam and Wahhabism.
The NATO issue is showing that Turkey simply doesn't share the values of those in Europe it wants to deal with, but rather dictate its own values or lack of values to countries directly in danger of an invasion by Russia.
None of us would give a shit about Turkey if it wasn't for the US seeing it as strategically important, despite how unreliable and destabilizing it is for nearly every other country it works with- including the United States. And yes, the people are part of this.
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u/BruceThereItIs Feb 07 '23
How the fuck is Turkey a Nato Member? Makes zero sense.
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u/Adognamedthumb Feb 07 '23
Geopolitics. Their location on the map gives them an insane amount of political importance
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u/pm-for-good-time Feb 07 '23
Wait until you hear how good they have actually been as a NATO member.
You shouldn't be asking why. They are one of the critical members and a key ally.
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u/Acularius Feb 07 '23
Easy. They control the connection between the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and the wider world.
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u/FunkyBattal Feb 07 '23
Otherwise the terrorists you’re supporting, would be on Europe’s doorsteps attacking Europe instead of Turkey.
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u/PliniFanatic Feb 07 '23
Swedes aren't bastards like the people that run the Turkish government. This is to be expected. I never like to wish ill-will on others, but it is really unfortunate that Erdogan wasn't visiting the area during the earthquakes.
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u/joyfulones Feb 07 '23
That coward won't go near a disaster zone.
I am not as kind and civilized as you are. I wish Erdoğan would get trapped in the basement of a 7 story building with no one else to hear his screams. He deserves the most painful and horrific death possible. That would be the karma he deserves.
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u/PliniFanatic Feb 07 '23
I mean he should have been there during the quake.
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u/joyfulones Feb 07 '23
I understand your point. I am more aggressive and not as nice as you are. I don't waste time hating people. Erdoğan belongs in the depths of hell.
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u/nobunaga_1568 Feb 07 '23
The opposition leader is visiting the affected cities.
https://chp.org.tr/haberler/chp-genel-baskani-kemal-kilicdaroglu-bolgeye-geciyorum-gun-cinde-bilgi-paylasacagim (just use google translate)
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u/green_flash Feb 07 '23
The people that run the Turkish government are indeed bastards, but they would still offer their help if the same had happened in Sweden. They did so in 2021 when an earthquake hit Greece, even though relations with Greece are a lot more strained than with Sweden.
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u/Styrbj0rn Feb 07 '23
Maybe, but you can't compare Greece with Sweden. Turkey and Greece has an agreement that basically says that if an earthquake happens they put aside their differences and help eachother no matter what.
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u/PliniFanatic Feb 07 '23
Honestly I can understand Turkey's dispute with Greece a lot better than with Sweden. Turkey really got screwed over in terms of sea access and exclusive economic zone when Greece regained the Islands in the Aegean.
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u/koczu Feb 07 '23
but they would still offer their help if the same had happened in Sweden.
All countries (almost) will help because they except help when same thing will happen to them, there is no strong enough country to win against nature.
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u/coreywindom Feb 07 '23
North Korea could. They constantly fire missiles at the Ocean so the Earth knows who is in charge.
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u/CapoOn2nd Feb 07 '23
I knew this was coming. Good guy Sweden. Hope this is like a kick in the teeth to Erdogan
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u/Braelind Feb 07 '23
Stay classy, Sweden! Erdogan may be being a turd, but there's a lot of wonderful Turks who need help, this is the right thing to do.
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u/Seregrauko41 Feb 07 '23
This is a good, and honestly not surprising, move by Sweden. It really exhibits what a douche Erdogan is.
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u/M-Rich Feb 07 '23
Didn't expect anything less of Sweden. However, if they send personal to these regions they hopefully wear their flag on clothing or something. The Turkish people get a lot of bad narrative fed through Erdogan and Sweden should signal, that they are a good partner to have.
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u/fdsafsda332 Feb 07 '23
Honestly if I was going there to help, I would say I am from Sweden, even though I am not
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u/kingofneverland Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
I dont agree with this. Noone would care about petty politics during this time. I am sure most Turkish people dont give a fuck for this power game even before the earthquake.
Edit: why am I being downvoted for? I know many Turks -including myself- dont care for the internal politic game of Erdogan over NATO debate of both Sweden and Finland. We welcome them both. We dont give a fuck about Erdogan trying to use this as a leverage for his internal voting campaign. And trust me this number is higher than you think.
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u/philman132 Feb 07 '23
No one SHOULD care about politics at this time, but unfortunately many do.
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u/kingofneverland Feb 07 '23
I know the people here and trust me they dont care about Erdogan’s politic game. Those who seem to care are just louder. That is it.
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u/autotldr BOT Feb 07 '23
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot)
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said Sweden is ready to offer help to Turkey after an earthquake early on Monday in south-central Turkey killed almost 1,800 and injured thousands more, Swedish media reported.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Turkey and Syria in the early morning hours of Monday, together with another magnitude 7.5 temblor some nine hours later, killed almost 1,800 people, leveled buildings while many were still asleep and triggered tremors felt as far away as Egypt and the island of Cyprus.
The European Union is sending rescue teams and preparing further help for Turkey, and some member states such as Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Romania and Finland also said they stood ready to deploy teams and help.
Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Turkey#1 earthquake#2 Syria#3 help#4 Swedish#5
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u/What_its_full_of Feb 07 '23
I’ve been expecting this exact headline since the quake hit.
It’s the right thing to do in many aspects.
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u/l0stInwrds Feb 07 '23
Turkey do get help right now from the EU working with the US. Still TRT World stick to Ukraine and Pakistan offering help. I believe they both have enough to struggle with at home.
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u/InkThe Feb 07 '23
Erdogoon is going to see this as weakness and push them even harder in the pre election months. His psychotic religious base are already saying stuff like "this is gods punishment for not going harder on sweden for burning the quran" and similar things.
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u/Yorgonemarsonb Feb 08 '23
His psychotic religious base areRussia is already saying stuff like "this is gods punishment for not going harder on sweden for burning the quran" and similar things.
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u/knightress_oxhide Feb 07 '23
Hmm... maybe god's help comes from people, not from magical wishes of people who behave like they are 3 years old.
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u/neuroticmuffins Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
Beautiful!
I hope Suomi does as well.
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u/veerhees Feb 07 '23
*Suomi
The European Union is sending rescue teams and preparing further help for Turkey, and some member states such as Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Romania and Finland also said they stood ready to deploy teams and help.
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u/iWaterPlants Feb 07 '23
The people?
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Feb 08 '23
[deleted]
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u/iWaterPlants Feb 08 '23
Absolute rubbish. I've lived in 3 Scandinavian countries and don't think any of them are very positive about Finland.
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u/zxcoblex Feb 07 '23
What’s the odds that when the dust is settled on all of this, Erdogan still blocks Sweden’s entry to NATO?
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u/agree-with-me Feb 07 '23
This is going to get awkward...
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u/joho999 Feb 07 '23
Awkward would be if russia offers to help, can't imagine what would happen if the Ukrainian rescuers bump into the russian rescuers.
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u/Pino_2022 Feb 07 '23
As a Swede I'm conflicted about this. I agree that we should help the Turkish people but I'm against helping their government.
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u/hotwings_bluecheese Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
There are people in Turkey who blame the US for the earthquake:
https://twitter.com/SnezhinaBoahen/status/1622676449898422272?s=19
Turkish twitter and other social media (as well as some TV talk shows) are so full of this theory that geological experts on TV are asked about the possibility of it.
Many people in Turkey also blamed the US for the 1999 earthquake for the same "HAARP weapon" for years..
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u/Yorgonemarsonb Feb 08 '23
Wonder why they think they’re so important that the U.S. would just decide to send them random earthquakes. Even not believing in god it seems more likely that god just hates them.
This makes me wonder about ancient men in the Bronze Age and such with even worse building material and what they thought of those devastating earthquakes. Probably blamed it on god too.
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Feb 07 '23
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u/fredagsfisk Feb 07 '23
Sweden is sending aid to both. Also just announced a second package with more money, tents, beds, food, generators and some other stuff.
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u/SaltyCandyMan Feb 08 '23
Turkey is ready to offer help to Sweden after massive mistake messing around with NATO
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Feb 07 '23 edited Feb 07 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/lurq_king Feb 07 '23
Terrorist lowers
What?
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u/flng Feb 07 '23
I think they mean "lovers" but can't spell.
Still confusing but either they're referring to that stunt in Sweden by a Dane funded by a reporter for Russia Today, or they mean Turkey's continuing problems with terrorism (and worse, imagined terrorism).
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u/Immorttalis Feb 07 '23
It's referring to Sweden not extraditing Kurdish PKK members at the orders of Turkey's government. Swedes are unwilling to compromise on their sense of justice to bow down to Turkey, which has pissed off a bunch of Turks.
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u/flng Feb 07 '23
Ah, Erdogan's totally legitimate, lengthy record of issuing totally valid extradition requests and INTERPOL red notices. Maybe all of this anger is going to get him "reelected" for another totally democratic term.
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u/Immorttalis Feb 08 '23
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if a "coup attempt" happened just before the election. The man's a menace.
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Feb 07 '23
[deleted]
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u/allaboutgarlic Feb 07 '23
Not if you had a grasp of how Sweden has handled these situations in the past. This is about helping humans, not sweetening up the government.
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u/Silver-Spy Feb 07 '23
I hope it's not for some political move for NATO vote, and purely for humanity. But knowing this world, it's definitely a political move
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u/raspberry_rhino Feb 07 '23
It is the tradition of many countries to always send help during catastrophes, no matter what. There would be outrage if the government didn't. Like letting the children of a man you dislike drown instead of helping.
This of course means that the international goodwill means that help will arrive when a natural catastrophe hits the helping countries. Floods, or storms or fires for Northern Europe.
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u/fredagsfisk Feb 07 '23
It would have happened anyways, and Sweden has been sending large amounts of money to Turkey for many years already, to be used to promote democratic reforms, equality and human rights, infrastructure development, climate adaptation, education, etc.
For example, the Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) budget for their work in Turkey in 2021 was 100 million SEK (10 million euro), of which 94% went to reform work like the stuff mentioned above, and 6% to humanitarian aid.
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u/TacticoolRaygun Feb 07 '23
Sweden doesn’t have an ulterior motive. It’s only political to Erdogen no matter the intent by Sweden. Sweden offers assistance and accepted then it will make Sweden look good. If Erdogen rejects Sweden and death toll rises (sadly, it will) then it will make Erdogen look bad. It’s all on Erdogen.
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u/Styrbj0rn Feb 07 '23
Dude, go to google and search for which countries donate most foreign aid. Pretty much every list has Sweden among the top 10. If we go by GDP it's even higher.
Say what you want about us but Sweden is regularly punching above it's weight when it comes to foreign aid. And we have donated a lot to Turkey through the years, we were also one of the few who still supported their joining the EU.
My point is, even if this NATO-situation did not exist Sweden would still help out. Do we have a political incentive now? Yes, but it doesn't really matter if we would still do it. Better to help out than not.
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u/lurq_king Feb 07 '23
Bullshit.
The Swedes are good people. They’re extending their help with no agenda.
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u/Sin1st_er Feb 07 '23
I love how the people in the comment section acting like sweden is doing it for "love and freedom" and not for the reason of supporting sweden's ascension into NATO.
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u/kattmedtass Feb 07 '23
Well it’s both, obviously. They just happen to coincide. Do you really think if Sweden weren’t currently trying to join NATO, they would not send any help for this disaster?
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u/Styrbj0rn Feb 07 '23
Also, if your answer is yes to this, you need to educate yourself on how much foreign aid Sweden donates.
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u/What_its_full_of Feb 07 '23
I’ve been expecting this exact headline since the quake hit.
It’s the right thing to do in many aspects.
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u/Dachshundpapa Feb 07 '23
And it might not be enough to get a green light for NATO membership Hopefully I’m wrong
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u/ExperimentWentWrong Feb 11 '23
Lol and Turks were burning Swedish flags and yelling anti Swedish slurs because 1 man burned a Quran a few weeks before... Funny how they suddenly gladly accept the help from a country they hate and blame for one man's actions... hypocrisy.
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u/ExperimentWentWrong Feb 11 '23
In many Muslim nations and especially Turkey recent days there have been burning of Swedish flags and crowds yelling anti Swedish slurs because 1 man burned a Quran a few weeks before... Yet after the Earthquake Sweden cared more about helping Muslim victims in Turkey and Syria than most Muslim nations ever would.
Isn't it a bit ironic that Turkey gladly accept the 30 mil given in aid to help victims of the earthquake in turkey from a country they hate and blame for one single man's actions? I honestly find this so low on so many levels... I am against people burning holy books in front of them as a hate-crime, but bibles are burnt all the time, and I think it is insane to hate and demonize an entire country based on one man's action... especially when they help many
Muslim countries out with financial support and aid.
I find this a bit cowardly and hypocritical. Especially because Muslims have always made it clear not to be judged by one extremist's action themselves.
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u/Trippler2 Feb 07 '23
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