Academic Assessments – Türkiye Humanitarian Action Overview

A Turning Point in Türkiye’s Seismic History: The 6 February Earthquakes

Meltem Şenol Balaban

Assoc. Prof. Dr., Faculty Member, Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning, METU. Director, METU Disaster Management Implementation and Research Center.

On 6 February 2023, as preparations for the Republic’s centennial anniversary were in the top gear across Türkiye’s vast geographical landscape, two successive earthquakes plunged the country into another direction, another air – an atmosphere where preparations for a landmark centenary celebration was forced to take a back seat in the social, cultural, and or…

Disaster Risk Management and February 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes: Crisis Management in Elbistan

Muammer Tün

Asst. Prof., Dr., Earth and Space Sciences Institute, Eskişehir Technical University, Department of Earth Sciences and Earthquake Engineering

Türkiye’s topography is highly susceptible to natural disasters, which, compounded by emergent technological disasters, have resulted in profound human casualties and irrecoverable economic loss. As a result, national security and development initiatives have, since 2023, prioritized outcome- and impact-oriented, disaster-resilient urban-planning and community-building strategies to minimize human and material loss. Yet national and local task…

A Year in the Shadow of Crises

Mehmet Emin Birpınar

Prof. Dr., Environment, Urbanism, and Climate Change Deputy Minister Chief Climate Change Negotiator

As humanity, we have left another challenging year behind us. The COVID-19 pandemic, which started at the end of 2019 and is still ongoing, along with the tension between Russia and Ukraine, has resulted in our world facing disruptions in the food and energy supply chain while also experiencing economic stagnation that has affected many…

Current Developments and Future Outlook in the Field of Climate Change in Türkiye

Çiğdem Tuğaç

Assoc. Prof. Dr., Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Climate change has various effects in different regions of the world. The Mediterranean Basin, including Türkiye, is one of the regions where the negative impacts of climate change are most pronounced. It is projected that the average temperature in the basin will increase by 2.5 degrees celcius-4 degrees celcius by the year 2100, and the…

Welfare and Social Services in Türkiye at the End of 2022

Tarık Tuncay

Prof. Dr., Hacettepe University Department of Social Work

The three main components of the welfare state architecture are: (i) a comprehensive social insurance system, (ii) social services targeting individuals and families in vulnerable conditions, and (iii) an accessible and diverse social assistance system for those in need. In societies where these components are effectively and balanced structure, both the social welfare level and…

International Humanitarian Aid in 2022: Deepening Crisis, New Roles, and ‘Localization’

Şerif Onur Bahçecik

Assoc. Prof. Dr., Middle East Technical University, Political Science and International Relations Department

In 2022, the world and our region faced new crisis while hoping to heal their wounds from the COVID-19 pandemic by reducing its speed and severity and trying to compensate for the losses incurred in the past period through the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Droughts, floods, ongoing or emerging conflicts, and hunger affected many countries…

Türkiye’s Humanitarian Diplomacy Activities in 2022

Orhan Battır

Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Political Science and International Relations Department

When viewed from the broadest perspective, humanitarian diplomacy correspondents to the efforts made at the international level to produce solutions that prioritize human beings and address issues related to human security. In other words, all processes aimed at persuading decision-makers and actors in the field to use tools that focus on humans and towards finding…

Grain Corridor and its Importance

İlkay Dellal

Professor, Ankara University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economics

The Russia-Ukraine War, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has created significant impacts in many areas, especially in food and energy. It has resulted in unprecedented economic, social, and political changes worldwide. Particularly, the grain crisis and the ‘Blacck Sea Grain Initiative Agreement,’ also known as the ‘Grain Corridor Agreement,’ have…