GPPi participates in debate on Turkey as a humanitarian donor

In The Hague on 8 November 2012, GPPi Associate Director Andrea Binder participated in the second debate of a conference series titled ​“Changing Humanitarian Aid.” Binder took part in a panel that focused on Turkey as a humanitarian donor, emphasizing the growing political rather than financial importance of Turkey and other emerging donors.

Joining Binder on the panel was Professor Alpaslan Özerdem from Coventry University. The debates are organized by six leading Dutch humanitarian organizations, including the Netherlands Refugee Foundation, the Netherlands Red Cross, ICCO & Kerk in Actie, NCDO, Wageningen University and the Humanity House.

Binder argued that Turkey’s political capital in the global hot spots of Central Asia and the Middle East, its positive reputation with affected populations in these regions and its willingness to operate in dangerous environments make the country a crucial partner for orchestrating political and humanitarian responses to crises.

At the same time, Turkey has an ambivalent relationship with the humanitarian principles that govern the way humanitarian response is carried out. The county does not formally subscribe to these principles. Therefore, the role of traditional humanitarian NGOs vis-à-vis Turkish humanitarian experts on the operational level should be to lead by example. They should embrace diversity in humanitarian assistance and show that principled humanitarian assistance on a day-by-day basis is relevant and effective.

Binder argued that such an approach is more effective than lecturing Turkey on good humanitarian donorship at the political level. Turkey is unlikely to have an open ear to these kinds of lectures, since its perspective on the international humanitarian system is shaped by the Bosnia war, Somalia and most recently Syria – cases where the traditional humanitarian system had or has had problems finding timely and adequate responses to enormous human suffering.