The year of 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkiye and Japan.

Our historic ties date back, more than 100 years, to the late  19th century when the tragic sinking of the Ottoman frigate  Ertugrul off the coast of Japan in 1890.

It is well known that the dedicated respon se and support against the “disaster” in the Ertugrul incident has become one of the triggers to strengthen trust between people in two countries. 

JICA, as the Japanese ODA implementing agency, has been working in collaboration with Turkish people for a long time. One of the characteristic examples of JICA’s invol vement in Turkiye is cooperation in disaster management. Actually, Japan began its cooperation for Turkiye in 1959 by inviting Turkish experts to Japan for disaster mana gement training. 

As JICA’s cooperation, we provide both fina ncial and technical support under the tool of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Following the earthquakes in February 20 23, Japan promptly dispatched rescue tea ms, medical teams and experts in engineering and social sectors. Subsequently, we have been providing our cooperation for the reconstruction efforts in various ways.

As financial cooperation, through the part nership with KOSGEB, we provided emer gency liquidity support to MSMEs affected by the Earthquakes in 2023, to restore their operations and employment. JICA also pro vides financial support to reconstruct muni cipal infrastructure and facilities, including water and sewage systems, rural housing, and ambulances and ambulance stations. 

As for technical cooperation, we are condu cting a project with the Union of Municipa lities of Turkiye (TBB) as the counterpart. In the project, we have been assisting in for mulating urban reconstruction plans of Kah ramanmaras. Devastating earthquakes in 2023 caused not only physical damage, but tremendous psychosocial impact on the pe ople, including youth and children. In order to utilize Japanese experiences and knowle dge of the disasters, JICA and Ministry of Youth and Sports implemented project at the youth centers for psychosocial care of the affected youth and children. 

In addition to the projects/programs as int roduced above, JICA also has the “Stand-by Loan for Disaster Recovery and Rehabi litation” as a disaster finance scheme.  

Under that scheme, a recipient (borrowing) country can withdraw necessary financial support immediately after a disaster happe ns, by discussing and preparing for necess ary financial arrangement beforehand. Unle ss a disaster does not happen and request for actual financial support is not submitted, no disbursement happens and accumu lation of debt does not increase, which wo uld be an outstanding merit for the country    

Both Turkiye and Japan are prone to natural disaster, including earthquakes. Nobody can predict when and where the next huge earthquake comes. 

We believe that both countries will be able to increase our resilience against natural disasters through mutual cooperation with utilizing our experience, lesons and wisdom. 

As we did in the past when the trust betwe en people of two countries were strengt hened through the disastrous incident of Er tugrul, our active cooperation on the disas ter management will lead to further develop ment of our confidence and relationship, and we would like to continue our challeng ing task together with the people of Turkiye. 

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