The Presidency's Directorate of Communications Monday launched a series of panels in New York and Washington D.C., focusing both on the Feb. 6 earthquakes that rocked Türkiye and relations between Türkiye and the United States.

The first panel entitled "Disaster Diplomacy: Recoding International Solidarity for a Resilient World" was moderated by Kılıç Buğra Kanat, research director at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), who visited the earthquake-hit cities, saying he had not seen that "level of destruction" in his life.

The panel at the National Press Club was the first of a series of panels and meetings in the U.S. from April 16-21 with a delegation of members of Parliament, officials from public institutions and organizations and academics participating in the programs to address the topics of disaster diplomacy, humanitarian diplomacy in natural disasters, the effects of natural disasters on international relations, Türkiye-U.S. relations, as well as the historical facts regarding the 1915 incidents involving deaths within the Armenian community in the Ottoman era.

Among the panelists were the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Konya deputy Ziya Altunyaldız; Deputy Director of Communications associate professor Çağatay Özdemir; professor Orhan Tatar, director-general of the earthquake and risk reduction at the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD); Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council member Nurşin Ateşoğlu Güney; Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council member Cağrı Erhan, and Newsweek magazine columnist Tom O'Connor.

The panel started with a video on the Feb. 6 earthquakes, which was followed by a video message from Türkiye's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun.

Altun stressed the importance of global solidarity to counter disinformation and its destructive effects, saying it is an "issue for the international community."

"As a country most exposed to disinformation, Türkiye resolutely voices the harms done to it," he said.

Noting that the factors that threaten global security are not just political conflicts and the resulting pursuit of military solutions, Altun stressed that global security and prosperity in today's world are also threatened by economic crises, pandemics, famine, climate crisis and natural disasters.

"Even if these problems may initially appear regional, they have the potential to become a global problem by expanding their sphere of influence over time," he said, adding that there is no issue that remains local.

Urging international solidarity and cooperation to resolve such issues, Altun stressed the importance of international solidarity against disinformation and the destructive effects of disinformation, citing the rampant disinformation Türkiye had to combat while providing accurate information to the public in the wake of the disaster.

"It has become clear how disinformation can harm not only national security but also directly the security of life and property of citizens," he remarked.

Altun further emphasized disinformation is not only an issue for Türkiye but also for all countries and the international community.

"We invite all countries to fight with a sense of responsibility against the production and spread of false and inaccurate information," he concluded.

International support

Recalling his visit to earthquake-hit Hatay, Altunyaldız stressed the importance of support from the international community.

"A final point that I would like to underline is international society and states and all of the international organizations have come to help Türkiye," he said, thanking all of them.

"I also would like to say from taking this reference (that) wherever any humanitarian issue is happening in the world, I think the international community should take responsibility for better coverage and restore the belief in humanitarian officials and for our sustainable environment," he added.

Tatar, for his part, underlined that the earthquakes in Türkiye "caused extensive damage" in 11 provinces and were "unprecedented" in terms of their intensity.

"The area directly affected by the earthquakes is larger than many European countries, for example, three times larger than the size of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark," he said.

"And the population directly affected by the earthquakes is also about twice the size of New York City," he added.

Tatar said the world's "largest earthquake response" was carried out in the aftermath of the Feb. 6 earthquakes.

"This operation went down in history as one of the largest operations ever carried out in the world with over 32,000 professional people participating in search and rescue activities," he said.

"Ninety countries have participated in search and rescue operations," he said, adding nearly 11,000 of these professional search and rescue teams were from other countries.

The U.S. also sent search and rescue teams and collected donations to support the earthquake response, he said.

Tatar said that one key lesson learned from the response to the earthquakes in Türkiye is the importance of "coordination and collaboration" between different countries and organizations.

Adding that Türkiye has the highest number of active faults in its territory compared to other countries in the world, he said, "The risk posed by these active fault lines highlights the importance of cross-border cooperation and planning for disaster response."

"Natural disasters know no boundaries," he added.

Disasters and international security

Güney of the Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council said that after the "tragic events," there was a "breakthrough window of opportunity" in terms of disaster diplomacy.

"During the aftermath, we have seen that this international solidarity has come to our home, so this is a good thing to see," she said.

Güney mentioned the assistance Türkiye received from abroad, especially from neighbors like Greece and Armenia, saying that "it is the neighbors of yours coming first" because it is geographically accessible.

"So I know that after living through the 1990 earthquake, the Kocaeli-based Izmit earthquake," she added.

"I'm hopeful that we will be built together with our regions and beyond," she said.

Erhan said, "Our friends in the U.S., from the first moment, came together to send support to Türkiye."

"After the Cold War, more and more of the states themselves became engaged with humanitarian diplomatic efforts, and Türkiye is one of those countries who started to pursue humanitarian diplomacy," he said.

Erhan said that natural disasters pose an "extremely significant" threat to the national security of Türkiye more than anything else.

Noting that the death toll from the latest earthquakes was more than 50,000, Erhan said, "The number is almost twice more than we lost during the War of Independence."

Newsweek columnist O'Connor noted the "solidarity" and the "response" to the "horrible tragedy" in Türkiye.

He said there is a trend toward de-escalation and diplomacy in the region, adding: "What we are seeing though, is that there's a trend toward wanting to address this war weariness, this fatigue, of not being even able to talk to your neighbors, especially during times of crisis such as this."

He said that Türkiye "has the privilege" of being a major and a "relatively wealthy country" which helps it drive the earthquake response.

"But where's the response in Afghanistan? Where's the response in Yemen?" he said.

"If there's going to be a mechanism that comes out of this, then it's going to have to apply more broadly and especially to the countries that are weak, poor and isolated. They need to become a part of this mechanism as well."

Following panels

In addition, the directorate will hold a two-session panel discussion titled "A Call to Truth: Historical Facts of 1915 Events" on April 21 at the Turkish House (Türkevi) in New York City. In the sessions titled "The Instrumentation of History for Political Reasons" and "The Role of Disinformation in the Spread of Armenian Claims," historians, legal professionals, authors, journalists, and security and foreign policy experts will address the historical facts surrounding the events of 1915 in depth.

The panel intends to explain to the international public Türkiye's historical arguments regarding the events of 1915 – about which the country was most exposed to disinformation and black propaganda – in the context of international law. The panel comes ahead of what the Armenian community calls the "April 24 anniversary" of the events.

Türkiye's position on the 1915 events is that the death of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties, many of which occurred during massacres by militaries and militia groups on both sides.

The mass arrests of prominent Ottoman Armenian politicians, intellectuals and other community members suspected of links with separatist groups, harboring nationalist sentiments and being hostile to the Ottoman rule were rounded up in the then-capital Istanbul on April 24, 1915, commemorated as the beginning of later atrocities.

Türkiye objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties. Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Türkiye and Armenia plus international experts to tackle the issue.

U.S. President Joe Biden, unlike his predecessors who largely shied away from calling the incidents "genocide," used this term in 2021 to the chagrin of Türkiye. With this acknowledgment, Biden followed through on a campaign promise he made a year ago. Mainly hailing from Ottoman Armenians, Armenians in the U.S. constitute significant communities on East Coast and in California.

The delegation will visit institutions and organizations such as the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the program.