Together We Stand

[ 136 ] The Turkic Council’s approach to humanitarian diplomacy Ambassador Ramil Hasanov, Secretary General; Pelin Musabay Baki, Project Director; and Yedil Myrzakhanov, Project Director, Turkic Council T he twenty-first century started with great expecta- tions to open a new page for a more stable, secure and developed world. However, time has shown that it is not easy to translate these expectations into realities. Fromclimate change, natural disasters, pandemics and protracted crises to terrorism, radicalization, armed conflicts and refugee crises, today we face a mixture of challenges that have become more complex, interconnected and borderless, directly affecting human lives. One in every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2015 Global Trend Report. More than 100 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and at least 60 million people were forced to flee their homes or their countries. These realities force us to find better ways to meet the needs of millions of people affected by conflicts or disasters. This orients us to re-explore the correlation between peace, humanitarian action and develop- ment, taking into account the necessity of inclusive partnership to truly tackle contemporary challenges. The bold and transformative 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda adopted at the historic United Nations Summit in September 2015 constitutes a plan of action in this direction to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. The first ever World Humanitarian Summit, to be hosted on 23-24 May 2016 in Istanbul by Turkey, one of the member states of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council), is a milestone to implement this plan of action and to frame a humanitarian system that is more inclusive, responsible and effective in searching for global responses to global questions. The Turkic Council, established in 2009 with the signing of the Nakhchivan Agreement as an international organization, has a human-centred approach in its endeavours to promote compre- hensive cooperation among the Turkic-speaking states and to contribute to peace, stability and sustainable development in the region. With its result-oriented and inclusive projects in a wide range of fields from economy, transport, customs and tourism to media, education, sports and youth, the Turkic Council prioritizes the use of regional ownership to the benefit of global solidarity. Therefore, the Turkic Council values south-south and triangular cooperation, considering it a vital tool to reach the recently accepted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that commit to “leave no one behind”. This commitment is reachable only through effective partnerships with the engagement of all relevant humanitarian and development actors. The member states of the Turkic Council (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey) are individually active in humanitarian and development-related issues. Becoming a member of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Donor Support Group, which brings together leading humanitarian donors, Turkey ranked as the world’s third largest donor country in 2014. The Turkish Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, Turkish Prime Ministry Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Turkish Red Crescent Society and numerous Turkish non-governmental organizations are actively involved in lending a helping hand wherever needed. For instance, TIKA, which is responsible for coordinating Turkey’s official aid programme engaging in both humanitarian aid distribu- tion and development cooperation, conducted 1,341 projects and programmes in 2014 through its 50 offices in 48 partner countries. Some 105 countries on the bilateral, and 73 coun- tries on the regional basis benefited from these. The Global Humanitarian Assistance Report for 2015 highlights that by May 2015 Turkey had become the world’s largest refugee hosting country. According to Turkish offi- cials, Turkey hosts more than 2.2 million people from Syria, demonstrating its firm commitment to humanitarian action. More than US$8 billion has been spent on the Syrians under temporary protection in Turkey since the beginning of the crisis in Syria. The successful organization of the Eighth Global Forum on Migration and Development in October 2015 in Istanbul is clear evidence of Turkey’s efforts to over- come this and similar humanitarian crises. Through various means, Turkey continues to rise in humanitarian diplomacy. Kazakhstan, the biggest landlocked developing country in the world, became the largest humanitarian donor in Central Asia. Since 2006, Astana has unilaterally provided more than US$60 million in humanitarian aid. Kazakhstan also provided financial funding for the construction of a variety of civil assets in Afghanistan and worked out an educational programme for Afghan students. Up to 1,000 Afghans will be provided with higher education in Kazakh universities during 2010-2020. The establishment of the national operator of official develop- ment assistance under the brand of KazAID in 2014 presents a promising step forward for Kazakhstan’s broader engage- ment in humanitarian and development cooperation. Hence, in September 2015 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov signed a T ogether W e S tand