“Turkey was shaken by a terrible earthquake that has taken many lives. Unfortunately, every day we see that the ominous number of victims is growing. So many countries around the world responded to this disaster and sent their rescue specialists to help the Turkish people in its hour of need. Azerbaijan sent the largest number of rescue workers. It is quite logical. Azerbaijani and Turkish peoples are fraternal nations with common linguistic and ethnic roots. Turkey has helped Azerbaijan many times, and so it is only natural that this country took the tragedy of the Turkish people as its own and immediately came to its aid,” Israeli expert Mikhail Finkel told STMEGI.
According to him, there is one fact that may surprise some people.
“It is that the second largest number of rescue workers sent to Turkey came from Israel. This country did not only send rescue personnel, but also deployed a field hospital in the disaster area. This will come as a surprise to some because there are factors that make it seem like it was not supposed to happen. Israel and Turkey have different religions, ethnic background, and views on many things. Over the past 15 years there has been a noticeable cooling of relations between the two countries, ambassadorial recalls, mutual accusations, but despite this, we see this reaction from Israel to the tragedy in Turkey,” Finkel said.
The expert also pointed out that grace is inherent in the Jewish people.
“The earthquake also affected Syria, with which Israel is officially at war. Nevertheless, Israel also offered Syria a helping hand, which it rejected,” said M. Finkel.
Addressing again the relations between Israel and Turkey, the political scientist stressed that the normalization of these relations is entirely to the credit of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
“And the fact that Israel and Turkey did not completely drift apart, although things were going that way, is to the credit of Ilham Aliyev, who has been working all these years to bring the two countries closer together. And today, thanks to Ilham Aliyev, we see that Turkey and Israel have left their differences behind. I think we can talk about a new successful alliance between Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Israel. In my opinion, it is a very promising and powerful alliance. I am proud of Israel for coming to Turkey’s aid in a difficult time. I admire the work of Israeli rescue teams, who are selflessly saving the lives of the people trapped under the rubble. And Ilham Aliyev contributed to all this,” M. Finkel said.
Translated from Stmegi.com
![A zoomed in view of the waterfront promenade running along the shores of the Caspian Sea, Baku, Azerbaijan. [Photo via Getty Images]](https://aze.media/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/GettyImages-1178395339-e1723534011484-150x150.webp)
