Erlangen and Beşiktaş: Together for disaster control

Istanbul, and therefore also the district of Beşiktaş, with which Erlangen has a long-standing city partnership, is considered a high-risk earthquake area. Following the severe earthquake in February 2023, Erlangen and Beşiktaş agreed to cooperate in civil protection and disaster control and, in particular, to set up a search dog unit. In addition to professional exchange and the development of expertise, the aim is also to familiarize the population of Besiktas with the necessary civil protection and disaster control measures, to expand the network and to benefit from mutual experience.

Mayor Florian Janik welcomed four representatives from the Directorate of Civil Defense and Disaster Prevention of the City of Besiktaş. Together with the initiator of the project, Silvia Klein, Head of the International Relations Office of the city administration, they got to know the German "security infrastructure". This included visits to and discussions with the city's fire and disaster control department, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK), the Workers' Samaritan Federation (ASB) and the German Life Saving Association (DLRG). Two search dog trainers from Beşiktaş were also trained at a BRK training center for search dogs.

In a second step, experts from Erlangen will travel to the Turkish twin city to get to know the existing local structures and provide advice to the directorate in Beşiktaş and the civil society actors cooperating with the city. Support for the training of further search dog trainers is also planned.

The association for the promotion of the city partnership ERBES e. V. supports the project, which takes place within the framework of the German-Turkish initiative for the promotion of the municipal expert dialog ORTAK - the Turkish word for TOGETHER - and is financially supported by Engagement Global and the Mercator Foundation.