More than ten days after the 7.8 magnitude quake in southeastern Turkey, there are these almost miraculous images of survivors being pulled from the rubble by rescuers. But there is also this human toll which continues to grow and which passed the 40,000 dead mark on Thursday evening, to which must be added thousands of displaced and homeless people. To come to their aid, Ankara was able to count on the support of Qatar which, at the start of the week, announced the sending of containers to Turkey in order to offer a roof to these victims, as reported. The cross. A welcome support as, at night, the mercury regularly drops below 0 degrees in these wintry weather.
Containers also from a World Cup stadium
Last autumn, these containers were used to house the supporters who came from all over the world to attend the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar. They come in the form of habitable boxes equipped with a bed, two small windows and various storage spaces. A first shipment of 350 boxes left Doha on February 12, as specified on Twitter by the qatar fund for development.
ارسال الدفعة الأولى من البيوت المتنقلة للمتضررين من #زلزال_سوريا_تركياpic.twitter.com/tuVoccOBua
— Qatar Fund For Development صندوق قطر للتنمية (@qatar_fund) February 12, 2023
To accompany them, Qatar also plans to send some of the containers used to erect the famous Stadium 974, built using… 974 metal boxes. A confusing structure which aimed to give a nod to the commercial port of Doha, located nearby. The enclosure, completely removable, had notably hosted the match of the French team against Denmark (2-1). In total, around 10,000 containers should find a second life in Turkey and Syria and allow the gas emirate to restore its image after the controversies linked to the working conditions of workers on the World Cup sites.
Cordial relations between Ankara and Doha
Nevertheless, this friendly gesture by Doha towards Ankara is not surprising given the warm relations between the two countries. In 2016, during the failed putsch against him, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had received support from the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
Ankara responded to this by unambiguously denouncing the sidelining of Qatar by the other Gulf monarchies the following year when Doha was accused of maintaining links with jihadist networks of Al-Qaeda and Daesh. Finally, both countries support the same rebel groups in Syria as well as the same political groups in Libya.