The Syrian earthquake of 2023: Navigating diplomacy and sanctions

In the early hours of February 6th 2023, an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude struck southern Turkey and north-western parts of Syria, that rocked both countries to their core. Following this, the international community, including international organisations, and other humanitarian actors, stepped in to play a vital role in providing aid and relief to the people on the ground and the countries in general. While both countries dealt with the loss of lives, displacement of people and severe destruction of infrastructure, they both had a different set of problems to deal with as well. On one hand, Turkey got rapid help and aid from humanitarian actors and was given diplomatic support, for example- “Israel, which is was the second-largest humanitarian aid donor after Azerbaijan right after the earthquake, sent a search and rescue team and 450 medical specialists to Turkey” (Yanarocak and Çubukçuoğlu, 2023). The fact that it is a politically and economically stable country also helped the situation to some degree. However, on the other side of the border, it was a different situation. Syria, which was already dealing with a civil war that is now in its 13th year and with a crippling economy that is under heavy economic sanctions, found itself crushed under yet another severe crisis. While the country and humanitarian actors are dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake along with the severity of the ongoing war, the shifting sands on the international political level are also being observed. The Syrian government which had been completely isolated both diplomatic and economically got itself a window of change and opportunity to engage with other international actors to help better the bilateral ties through the engagement of what is now called “earthquake diplomacy”. Like any other disaster, this one also did not pick sides and spare any person on the ground, regardless of whether they were Syrians or not. With a country that is already broken politically and dealing with an economic crisis along with outbreaks of diseases, one can only try to understand the level of helplessness and vulnerability this earthquake has brought to the forefront. This thesis aims to examine the humanitarian response to the Syria earthquake of 2023, with a particular focus on the role of diplomacy and economic sanctions.