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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters No respite for Turkey
By Gareth JenkinsAnother devastating earthquake ripped through north-western Turkey on Friday, 12 November, causing more death and destruction in a nation still traumatised by continuing aftershocks from the massive tremor of 17 August which left an estimated 25,000 dead.
The latest earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, occurred just before 7p.m. on 12 November as people were returning home from work and preparing their evening meals. The epicentre was in Duzce, a sleepy provincial town of 80,000 in the forests of the Bolu Mountains, 150 kilometres east of Istanbul. But the devastation was spread over several hundred kilometres. By Tuesday the official death toll had risen to 500 but hundreds more were still missing presumed dead. Turkish officials estimate that the final death toll will exceed 1,000, with another 2,500 seriously injured.
Winter starts early in the mountains. In early November temperatures often dip below freezing at night. When the earthquake struck last Friday evening most people had already lit wood- and coal-fired stoves. The shock not only brought houses, many of them already weakened by the August tremor, tumbling down on top of their occupants but also triggered hundreds of fires. The first television pictures to come out of Duzce on Friday night showed local coal miners, their faces lit by the flames, desperately trying to drag survivors from shattered, burning buildings, the air rent by the screams of the injured and the dying.
The local fire station was completely destroyed, while the hospital was so badly damaged as to be unsafe. As the injured were brought in, doctors had to operate in the hospital garden by the light of generator-powered arc lamps and car headlights, while the ground trembled with aftershocks.
Unlike the aftermath of the August earthquake, when the Turkish government met with bitter criticism for the slowness and inefficiency of its response, this time the authorities reacted quickly. A crisis desk was formed within 10 minutes of the earthquake and the first ambulances and rescue teams were dispatched to the disaster area within less than an hour.
The international community also reacted swiftly, with more than 30 countries sending aid and rescue teams. But by Tuesday, as hopes faded of finding anyone alive after four bitterly cold nights under the rubble, attention shifted to the plight of the tens of thousands of homeless. Even though the Red Crescent had erected over 2,000 tents, many survivors were still spending the night in the open, huddled around campfires. A United Nations High Committee for Refugees (UNHCR) official warned of another disaster unless the authorities provided enough winterised tents to protect the survivors until more permanent accommodation could be found.
As they watch the heartbreaking scenes on national television, many Turks are now asking themselves whether they might be next. Two days before the most recent quake, Professor Ahmet Mete Isikara, the head of the Kandili Seismic Institute in Istanbul, submitted a report to the Turkish government warning of a build up of pressure in the north Anatolian fault line around Duzce. On Saturday he predicted that the next earthquake would occur further west, in the section of the fault that runs 25 kilometres south of Istanbul. "The quake could happen in days or decades," he said. "But we must get ready now."
Over 70 per cent of Istanbul's population of 12 million live in rickety, illegally-constructed shanty towns. Experts warn that if a quake with a magnitude of more than 6.5 on the Richter scale occurs close to the city the death toll will run into tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands.
"If the right preventative measures had been taken, the death toll in the August earthquake would have been only 200-300," said Professor Mustafa Erdik of Istanbul's Bosphorus University. "Despite all the warnings, in the three months since 17 August nobody has done anything but talk. We Turks are always declaring that our country will be powerful and a leader in the region. But we do nothing to protect our own people. We should be ashamed of ourselves."
But the possibility of a natural disaster has failed to deter world leaders due to meet in Istanbul from 16-18 November to try to limit human destructiveness at a summit meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The summit meeting will be attended by the leaders of all 54 OSCE member states. Another eight countries are sending high-ranking officials as observers, including Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
A resident of the Turkish town of Duzce, east of Istanbul, salvages what she can from her destroyed house
(photo: AP)The summit is due to open with a formal dinner on the evening of 16 November, followed by two days of plenary discussions and out-of-session bilateral and multilateral talks between participating states.
The main topics on the official agenda include the finalisation of a Charter on European Security, which would commit member states to an active role in conflict prevention and the strengthening of democracy in the OSCE area. Participants at the summit are also expected to agree to allocate resources to a body to monitor security concerns in the region and cooperate with other international organisations, such as the UN, in active conflict prevention and peace-keeping operations.
The summit is also expected to update two previous agreements: the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and the Vienna Document. The CFE, which has so far been signed by 30 countries, commits signatories both to reducing stockpiles of weapons and allowing intrusive inspection and verification. The Vienna Document, which was drafted at the previous OSCE summit in Austria in October 1999, details confidence and security-building measures between the militaries in the OSCE area.
Inevitably, most attention will focus on the declaration issued at the end of the summit. Although the text of the declaration is expected to include references to longstanding security problems, such as in the Balkans, the Aegean and the stalled Middle East peace process, the most contentious issue is likely to be the Russian military operation in Chechnya, particularly Moscow's policy of deliberately targeting civilians in an attempt to discourage the alleged tolerance of Islamist militants on Chechen territory.
Last week Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov declared that Russia, which remains deeply uneasy about the lead taken by NATO in recent peacekeeping operations in Europe, wanted the Istanbul summit to produce a new security system based on the OSCE. "The safety of Europe and the world in the 21st century depends on the success of this meeting," he said.
But on Monday Russian President Boris Yeltsin was in more combative mood. He announced that he would personally lead the Russian delegation to the Istanbul summit and directly confront Moscow's critics. "The Western countries have no right to criticise Russian operations in Chechnya," he said. "The campaign will continue until every terrorist has been destroyed."
