After the 1999 Izmit earthquake, which claimed the lives of at least 17,000 people, voices argued against the Turkish government’s inadequate response and building failures pointed to the corruption of civil servants and builders. The shock wave was so great that it shook Turkey’s entire institutional system and set the stage for the rise of the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
With just over three months to go before the parliamentary and presidential elections, and as the criticisms from then can still be heard today, this is a scenario that Erdogan does not want to see repeated. Yesterday he lay on the ground, saw destroyed buildings and visited victims who had become homeless. Further, admitted there were “gaps” in authorities’ response to Monday’s earthquakes. Still, he said it was “impossible to be prepared for a disaster of this magnitude” and called some critics “unfair”.
The death toll from Monday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake and strong aftershocks (including one in 7.5) reached 12,049 yesterday, with more than 9,000 in Turkey alone (the remaining nearly 3,000 in Syria). ). Erdogan spoke of at least 50,000 injured, with more than 8,000 people pulled alive from the rubble. Nearly 380,000 are in government shelters or hotels. Rescue teams from more than two dozen countries and international aid, which Erdogan immediately requested, continue to arrive.
This is considered the biggest challenge for Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years – first as head of government and since 2014 as president. “Erdogan is responsible. This government has not prepared the country for an earthquake for 20 years. His policies have brought us to this situation,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). field. Other criticism comes via social networks, with Twitter ceasing to function in the country yesterday.
Kilicdaroglu has been named as one of Erdogan’s possible opponents in the presidential election he wanted to bring forward to May 14 — the same date as the 1950 elections that marked the end of the CHP’s hegemony.founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president and founder of the modern republic who will turn 100 in October.
“This is a time for unity, solidarity. In a period like this, I can’t imagine people running negative campaigns out of political interest,” the president said during his visit to Hatay province. “Some dishonest and shameless people have published false statements, such as ‘we didn’t see any soldiers or police’,” denounced Erdogan. According to the president, 21,000 members of the emergency services have been deployed to this province alone, the most affected. The fact that the airport runway was damaged hampered the arrival of aid to the region.
Despite the criticism and negative environment, analysts quoted by Reuters point out that the president is adept when it comes to campaigning and that his administration has faced other (less severe) earthquakes, fires and natural disasters in the past. And he was able to use this tragedy to garner national support in responding to the crisis and bolster his already fragile position – high inflation stamped his resume as a capable, if autocratic, manager. The government’s response may convince wavering voters, but it should not alienate the most loyal.
The problem is that Erdogan was already in trouble, with polls showing the need to go to a presidential runoff and Erdogan losing to several opponents. Yet its popularity had improved in recent months, according to surveys cited by the online newspaper Middle East Eye, thanks to the measures taken by the president – in January he raised the minimum wage in the private sector by 94% compared to the previous year, with inflation slowing to 64%. Civil servants also benefited from this measure, in addition to others, such as the tax debt relief.
Erdogan also benefits from the fact that the opposition, the so-called Group of Six, has yet to choose a candidate. In addition to Kilicdaroglu, another name was mentioned, that of Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, but he has already supported the leader of the People’s Republican Party. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İImamoglu, another popular figure, was sentenced to more than two years in prison for “insulting election officials” and barred from running for public office. The case is before the Court of Appeal.
However, the situation for Erdogan could get worse. New building regulations were drawn up after the 1999 earthquake, but architects have long complained that they are not strictly enforced. In addition, many of the now-affected areas have seen a construction boom, encouraged by Erdogan, according to the Politico website, involving companies associated with the president and his party. If the new apartments are more affected than the old ones, Erdogan could come under even more fire.
Source: DN
