An A-400M military aircraft from the Turkish Air Force, which took off from the Etimesgut Airfield in Turkey to deliver critical medical supplies to the United States, landed at the Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as part of ongoing Allied efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
A second Turkish military aircraft carrying medical supplies to the United States left Ankara today.
“The assistance consisted of surgical masks, overalls, disinfectant, goggles, N-95 masks and face shields. This emergency delivery was made possible by the use of NATO’s Rapid Air Mobility (RAM) measures and granting of priority handling by EUROCONTROL, which handles the flow of all air traffic over Europe.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Turkey has provided assistance to 55 countries, including 15 NATO Allies and 21 NATO partner countries. Allied solidarity in response to COVID-19 takes place in different forms, through bilateral assistance as well as through the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre.”
So not like the cock-up the UK had to put up with, then?
Cock up? The UK received in April around Easter 2 planes full of medical aid donated by the Turkish state. They agreed to sell them supplies too which were messed up by the UK health ministry ordering without authorisation from Turkish health ministry which caused a delay.
Turkey donated to Italy Spain and US too apart of selling supplies too. This day allies won’t sell you supplies let alone donate anything! Israel refused to sell the UK supplies.
Give credit where due mate ✌
Thank you, Andy. Mea culpa – for not providing chapter and verse with my comment. A bit sloppy.
I was referring to the episode where an RAF A400M was left on the tarmac in Turkey, for several days, awaiting a consignment of PPE to be loaded. See the FT report at:
https://www.ft.com/content/96bd8a01-f4ab-4903-a14a-cc77c3790bb0
Then, if my memory serves me correctly, when the consignment finally arrived in UK if proved to be ‘useless’. According to the Telegraph on 6th May:
“Thousands of gowns brought back from Turkey last month has been impounded in a warehouse outside Heathrow Airport after inspectors found the gear was “useless” and fell short of UK standards, senior sources said. Most of the gowns were produced by a Turkish firm that switched from making tracksuits and T-shirts after coronavirus began to spread across the world in January….”
It would appear that the cock up I was referring to was down to the UK government and their mad dash to procure PPE from any source, with scant regard for origin or quality. Clearly, Turkey is to be applauded for its contributions world-wide. From your excellent appraisal of Turkey’s efforts to date I would say yep – credit where it’s due, mate!
Sorry – should read thank you Alex! (I’m having one of those days…)
Yes there were media reports… but it was proven later to be false by the British government. Only a small batch they had issues with.. and even that the Turkish supplier said they never had received any complaints and was happy to deal with. The vast majority was of great quality unlike the Chinese kits.
The media often report false stories and that one was one of them as there was a delayed response by the government who said the rumours were false.. but the damage was already down hehe ✌❤