Ambassadors from the UK and other countries were pulled out of Turkey 24 hours before the recent earthquake.
False. Several days before the earthquake a number of consulates were closed to the public due to the threat of terrorist attacks. We can find no evidence that ambassadors or diplomats were withdrawn.
Multiple posts on Twitter falsely claim that several countries pulled their ambassadors out of Turkey 24 hours before the deadly earthquake which struck the south east of the country and North Syria on 6 February 2023. Similar claims are also being shared on Facebook.
One such post reads: “List of countries that pulled their ambassadors out of Turkey 24 hours before the earthquake,” and then names Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Holland and France.
Some versions of the post use an alternative list of countries: United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, France, Denmark and Australia.
We can find no evidence to support these claims.
All the posts make reference to “ambassadors” who are based and often reside in the embassy which is normally situated in the capital city of the host nation. All the ambassadors mentioned in the posts are based in Ankara, a city which was unaffected by the earthquake.
While each nation has only one embassy in any foreign country, it may have a number of consulates—smaller offices that provide an official presence in cities away from the capital. But we could not find evidence of any diplomats being withdrawn from consulates immediately before the earthquake either.
Some of the countries named did temporarily shut some of their consulates in Istanbul several days before the earthquake in response to a heightened risk of terrorist attacks. Istanbul is in the north west of Turkey and, like Ankara, was unaffected by the earthquake.
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On 18th May 2022, Sweden and Finland officially applied to join NATO over concerns prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Such a move requires the unanimous approval of all 30 member countries.
Turkey, which has accused both Sweden and Finland of harbouring “terrorists”, opposed this, threatening to use its veto to prevent them joining.
On 21 January 2023, a far-right Danish-Swedish politician set fire to a copy of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Similar Quran-burning incidents took place in Denmark and the Netherlands with Turkey accusing the countries of failing to prevent hate crimes.
After this, several countries temporarily closed some of their diplomatic missions in Istanbul to the public.
On 31 January, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office updated its advice for Britons travelling to Turkey and noted: “There is currently a heightened threat of terrorist attacks against churches, synagogues, Embassies/Consulates and other places frequented by Westerners in Istanbul. The British Consulate General in Istanbul is currently not open to the public as a precaution.”
The following day the German consulate in Istanbul posted on its Instagram account: “After the recent incidents in several European capitals with public burning or destruction of the Koran, according to the security authorities, the risk of terrorist attacks in Istanbul has increased, especially in the inner city area."
The post added: “The Consulate General will be closed on Wednesday, February 1st, 2023. We will inform you about further developments in good time.”
Full Fact cannot find any evidence to suggest any embassies had closed, or that diplomats were recalled.
The German consulate partially re-opened on 6 February, the day the earthquake struck. However, the British consulate in the same city remained closed.
It was reported on 3 February that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu complained that the nine countries involved in consulate closures—which he identified as the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy—had failed to share information on any potential security threats.
Ambassadors from the nine countries were summoned to a meeting in Ankara to explain their actions. The meeting took place three days before the earthquake struck.
We can find no evidence that Canada, Denmark or Australia shut their consulates or embassies and their diplomats were not among those reportedly summoned by the foreign minister.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, those living in Turkey or concerned about relatives there were advised to contact their relevant embassies, suggesting they were still in operation.
The post may be implying that some countries had prior knowledge that the earthquake was going to take place, but scientists agree that such events cannot be predicted.
The website of the British Geological Survey states: “Although it is known that most global earthquakes will concentrate at the plate boundaries, there is no reliable method of accurately predicting the time, place and magnitude of an earthquake.”
The site of the US Geological Survey (USGS) adds: “Neither the USGS nor any other scientists have ever predicted a major earthquake. We do not know how, and we do not expect to know how any time in the foreseeable future.”
Image courtesy of Lewis J Goetz
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because we can find no evidence any ambassadors were pulled out of the country, though some consulates were closed to the public.
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