As efforts to recover from the devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey continue, the off-road racing world is chipping in as well. Among the participants are the Istanbul Off-road Club, whose base was not impacted by the quakes but will still strive to aid their people, and RBI Sport, located in neighbouring Bulgaria.
The Istanbul Off-road Club (ISOFF) is the organiser of the Baja Troia Türkiye, which is set to be the fifth and final round of the 2023 FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas on 20–22 October. Hoping to contribute to the rescue efforts, the ISOFF partnered with GEA, a Turkish volunteer rescue team that is a member of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG). GEA has 239 personnel which a press release on 9 February stated was able to rescue twenty-eight survivors.
ISOFF and GEA have some overlap in membership, which prompted the former to send off-road trucks to assist.
“Two major earthquakes hit Eastern Turkiye back to back, leaving devastating effects with thousands of lost lives, injured ones,” stated ISOFF head Kubilay Tufekci. “While our thoughts are with the victims of this tragedy, we as ISOFF Istanbul Off-road Club teamed up with GEA Search & Rescue Team where we also have common members with. We immediately send trucks with urgent necessities and our experienced members headed to the region for help. We are still coordinating with our international friends for receiving their trucks of relief supplies. Our dear friends Alex Kovatchev from Bulgaria and Maurizio from Romania send us their official rescue teams with 75 brave men and women, we are so grateful to all these support… We express our condolences for the losses and wish quick recovery for the ones wounded physically and mentally.”
An ISOFF post on Friday read, “We are all devastated by the back-to-back earthquakes that disrupted our country. We wish mercy from Allah to those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to the wounded.
“ISOFF members have started sending relief materials to the region from the first moment through their own efforts. With our decision to act with GEA, one of the most competent rescue organisations as a club, nineteen vehicles and more than forty of our friends have come to the region with their own special efforts. They support those affected by the earthquake with hot food and rescue, and the news of the lives they saved from the wreckage reduces our pain a little. As ISOFF, we will be providing significant support to the AHBAP organisation, which we trust for the efficient sharing of aids, with the contributions from our members.
“Besides these, our international friends from races Alex Kovatchev 27 from Bulgaria and Maurizio 48 from Romania supported us with trained rescue staff and equipment. We are grateful to them.”
Kovatchev is the CEO of RBI Sport, who oversees amateur rally raids in Eastern Europe. For 2023, RBI is hosting the Fenix Rally in Tunisia, Rallye Breslau in Poland (in partnership with Ultra4), and the Balkan Offroad Rallye in Romania.
Of the seventy-five workers from the Bulgarian-Romanian response force, RBI is responsible for twenty-seven and has also provided equipment that is typically used for races. RBI has formed partnerships with off-roading clubs in Plovdiv and Emergency Rescue Plovdiv, a non-profit organisation recognized by the National Association of Volunteers in the Republic of Bulgaria (NADRB) who has provided twenty volunteer personnel. Gladiator Offroad, an off-road automotive repair business where Kovatchev works as general manager, is also lending aid.
“We cannot remain indifferent to the tragedy that befell Türkiye and Syria. Türkiye is even our neighboring country and we feel true empathy for the people there,” said Kovatchev. “We are aware that we cannot help everywhere but decided to support where we can. Our team got in touch with the Istanbul Off-road Club ISOFF and discussed various ways to help.
“We are now performing a humanitarian and rescue mission from the Bulgarian part together with Emergency Rescue Plovdiv, Gladiator Offroad and Off-road Clubs in Plovdiv. We sent volunteers, medics and financial help. Part of the RBI Sport rally equipment was sent there. The most of the rally gear is already there.”
The FIA-affiliated Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED) and its member clubs have brought 188 4×4 off-road vehicles, twenty-one transport trucks, twelve heavy equipment machineries, seven panel vans, and six lorries and food trucks apiece with 465 volunteer workers.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem wrote a letter to TOSFED president Eren Üçlertoprağı on 7 February that read, “I was deeply saddened to hear about the devastating earthquake that has hit your country. In this moment of pain, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to your people as well as the FIA solidarity. If our Federation can be of any help, please let us know. In the meanwhile, all my thoughts are with you.”
Over 22,000 have been killed across southern Turkey and northern Syria since the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit on 6 February. The winter weather has exacerbated challenges faced by rescue workers such as freezing temperatures and the threat of hypothermia for trapped survivors.
