After thousands of people were killed in two devastating earthquakes on Monday, anger in Turkey is building over what many see as the government’s lack of preparation. The political opposition and those who were affected by the disaster accused the government of a tardy and insufficient rescue effort. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s first visit to the affected area came as the outrage intensified because of the tight election that will take place in three months.
According to reports, on Wednesday, Kemal Klçdarolu, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has accused President Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of failing to adequately prepare the nation for earthquakes during their 20 years in office.
Halkımızın halini yerinde gördüm. Yaşananlara siyaset üstü bakmayı, iktidarla hizalanmayı reddediyorum. Bu çöküş tam da sistematik rant siyasetinin sonucudur. Erdoğan’la, sarayıyla ve rant çeteleriyle hiçbir zeminde buluşmayacağım. Ben halkımın kavgasını vereceğim. Sonuna kadar. pic.twitter.com/MMDeBCBFRC
— Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (@kilicdarogluk) February 7, 2023
“Our country is faced with terrible destruction. What we see here is heartbreaking. Our hearts ache. You are never, ever alone. We will do everything we can to get our cities and villages back on their feet. We will move into the recovery phase in the most severely affected areas,” the CHP leader said.
He went on to suggest that Erdoğan was “primarily responsible” for the disastrous effects of the earthquakes since his AKP administration had neglected to take the necessary precautions during their 20 years in power despite earlier warnings from experts.
The opposition leader claimed that the government had not taken the necessary steps to coordinate resources, fully utilize Turkey’s experience in similar situations, ensure public institutions’ cooperation with municipalities and non-governmental organizations, send soldiers to earthquake-affected areas, and send miners, who are innately trained in search and rescue, to the areas that needed them before it was too late.
“In short, they failed in this as they did in everything else. That’s why I never think of meeting him (Erdoğan). I would never, ever see this issue as being above politics. His politics brought us to this situation. I refuse to align with those in power. I will fight for my people until the end,” Kılıçdaroğlu declared.
He added that he had instructed mayors in his party to do everything in their power to help earthquake victims, despite any efforts made by the AKP administration to erect “bureaucratic barriers” to stop them, as they had done during COVID-19.
“(I told them) If you have to be arrested for finding bread and blankets for the people, get arrested. The squabbles, the protocols [and] the bureaucracy are over. Millions of people are in the streets. Thousands of them are under the rubble. We are both sad and angry. Now is the time to repair and improve,” he proclaimed.
Selahattin Demirtas, a jailed Kurdish politician and former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), supported Klçdarolu on Twitter on Wednesday via his attorneys.
Hem güçlü bir dayanışma hem de güçlü bir siyasi duruş, bu zor dönemi el ele vererek atlatmamız için çok önemlidir, kıymetlidir. https://t.co/2GsRqd3znR
— Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas) February 8, 2023
“Both a strong solidarity and a strong political stance are very important and valuable for us to get through this difficult period together,” Demirtaş said, referring to the CHP leader’s statements.
“Where is the state? Where have they been for two days? We are begging them. Let us do it, we can get them out,” Sabiha Alinak spoke while standing close to a collapsed building in Malatya that had imprisoned her young family under snow.
As they waited helplessly next to the rubble, unable to rescue those trapped because they lack the support or equipment necessary, Turks have long complained of a lack of resources. At times, they could even hear calls for assistance.
The criticism was dismissed by President Erdoğan. Furthermore, he called “provocateurs” individuals who claimed that security officers had not been present at all in certain locations.
“This is a time for unity, solidarity. In a period like this, I cannot stomach people conducting negative campaigns for political interest,” he told reporters in southern province of Hatay.
More than 11,000 people have died as a result of the earthquakes on Monday in southern Turkey and northwest Syria. Millions of people are suffering hardships as a result of the destruction of infrastructure and hundreds of buildings, leaving many homeless in the icy cold.
