ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday awarded the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) rescue team for supporting Turkey’s provinces which were hit by devastating quakes in February.
Two quakes shook 11 provinces in southern Turkey on February 6, killing 50,783 people and destroying thousands of buildings, according to the latest figure from the government.
President Erdogan attended the “State Medal and Order of Supreme Sacrifice” ceremony in Ankara on Tuesday, awarding those nations which helped Turkey in its response to the earthquakes.
Tahsin Shro Ahmed, the head of KRG’s rescue team, was also awarded. However, he was introduced as the representative of Iraq, not the Kurdistan Region. The KRG interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Ahmed represented the Region.
“Our aim is to reward those who display sacrifice in combatting pandemics as well as such natural disasters as earthquakes, fires and floods, with this order and medal,” Erdogan said during the event, thanking the teams.
“As you know, our state has orders and medals in three different categories. With a little amendment we made recently in the law on orders and medals, we have added to them another one, the State Medal and Order of Supreme Sacrifice,” he added.
Turkish officials have refrained from publicly acknowledging the Region’s aid to quake-hit provinces. However, some opposition leaders have thanked the Kurdish government.
KRG as well as the Region’s humanitarian organizations and people were among the first to provide aid to the neighbouring country. Several fundraising campaigns were launched in the Region.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani paid a visit to some quake-hit areas in Turkey on February 14. He was received by President Erdogan in Ankara the same day.
Ankara and Erbil enjoy great economic relations, and most of the Kurdistan Region's crude oil is marketed through Turkey's pipelines. However, the flow of oil from the Region has been suspended for about a month due to an arbitration case between Ankara and Baghdad.
The Turkish government was heavily criticized by the opposition for the slow response to the earthquake, mainly due to not taking adequate prevention measures following the recent earthquakes of Elazig (Xarpet in Kurdish) and Izmir in 2020, which killed a total of 161 people.
Following the quakes, Erdogan promised compensation and restoration of the collapsed buildings and handing over the new residential units within a year.
