Turkey turns to medical diplomacy to heal relations

ANKARA: Emblazoned with Turkish flags and presidential seals, crates packed with medical equipment are loaded onto planes, part of a major aid campaign by Ankara which has dispatched supplies to dozens of countries since the new coronavirus pandemic erupted. “There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness,” says a message on every shipment - a line from 13th century Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi, which looks to better days not just in the battle against COVID-19 but also for Turkey’s fraught diplomacy.

With its relations with NATO allies in Europe and the United States darkened by disputes over Russian

missile defenses, human rights and Western sanctions on Iran, Turkey hopes the virus crisis is an opportunity to soothe recent tensions. Despite battling one of the world’s biggest coronavirus outbreaks at home where the death toll now exceeds 3,700 -, Turkey has sent medical aid to 61 countries, including the United States, Spain, Italy, France and Britain. By its own calculations, Ankara has been the world’s third biggest aid distributor during the outbreak, sending face masks, protective suits, testing kits, disinfectant and respirators.

In a letter to President Donald Trump sent with one shipment, President Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped the “spirit of solidarity” Turkey had shown would help US politicians “better understand the strategic importance of our relations”. Ankara faces potential US sanctions over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defences, which it bought last year but has not yet fully deployed. Despite the threat of sanctions, it says the systems will ultimately be activated.—Reuters

ISTANBUL: A barber wearing a protective mask cuts a man’s hair in his barber shop in Istanbul, on the first day of shops reopening following a closure since March 21, 2020 due to the pandemic. — AFP