BY YUSUF KANLI
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS - According to the famous saying, 'A friend in need is a friend indeed,' Turkey and Pakistan are two nations that are not at all merely 'friendly' . Relations between the Turkish and Pakistani nations, despite the considerable geographical distance between them, have always been brotherly. Turks and Pakistanis feel like close kin.
Helping a brother in need is part of the Turkish character, and when it comes to helping a brother, as we saw after Pakistan's last killer quake, schoolchildren can step forward with precious donations saved from their pocket money, and young brides can come forward to donate their wedding rings.
Pakistan is in need today. Helping a brother emerge from a disaster which killed thousands and left millions homeless must be, and is, a duty for every member of the Turkish nation.
Turkish aid to Pakistan so far reportedly exceeds $13 million and is rising. Within days Turkey will set up two field hospitals, each staffed with 20 doctors and healthcare workers, and the Turkish Red Crescent is working to send more easily constructed prefab homes that it's had in storage for possible earthquakes.
Soon a Pakistan-bound brotherhood train will be leaving Turkey. The Turkish State Railways (TCDD), in cooperation with the Red Crescent, will be supplying Pakistan with some 500 tons of supplies. Not only the government and the Red Crescent, but municipalities, non-governmental organizations, and newspapers have all launched campaigns to help out our brothers in need in Pakistan.
Major national newspapers have already launched massive aid campaigns for the flood victims of Pakistan, described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as the worst disaster he ever saw. Many Turkish aid planes have already landed in Pakistani airports carrying precious donations from the Turkish people. Blankets, prefab houses, foodstuff, medicine, clothing and such emergency aid, but more so the strong brotherly affection pouring out from Turkey testifies once again to the 'We stand with you' declaration of Turks to their Pakistani brothers.
This week President Abdullah Gul appealed to the nation to extend a helping hand to flood-devastated Pakistan. Talking at a special UN General Assembly meeting on the issue, State Minister Egemen Bagis, who was there as the special representative of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, vowed that Turkey would lead international aid efforts.
Indeed, as Gul has underlined, it is a national obligation for Turks to stand by their brothers in Pakistan as sons and daughters of two nations who have always supported each other and who have enjoyed unparalleled togetherness.
Clearly aid efforts so far have been modest compared to similar disasters in the past. But, as Erdogan said in his message read out at the UN meeting by Bagis, 'Today is the day to extend a fast, strong and determined hand to help Pakistan,' and as Turks better realize the magnitude of the disaster, obviously Turkish aid to Pakistan will increase.
Unfortunately, we have been a bit late. I'm sure the Pakistani people will forgive us, but it took some time to grasp the immense dimension of the catastrophe Pakistanis have seen and to get mobilized.
'After all, we are a nation that has a history of heroic struggles: be it the Pakistan movement, the 1965 war, the 2005 earthquake or the struggle against the Taliban,' wrote Sharmila Faruqui, an advisor to Chief Minister Sindh and PPP Sindh Women Wing Information Secretary, in the Daily Times yesterday. 'Our leadership is trying its utmost to confront the situation. We must shoulder their efforts. The future is yours. I believe that Pakistan will survive this crisis as well, Inshallah.'
The brothers of Pakistan firmly believe in that as well.