As the death toll continues to rise after the devastation Earthquake In Turkey, there is also a political threat to the country’s leader.
Opposition politicians are openly accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the fact that the country was unprepared for the disaster, as well as for the slow relief effort, which they say is due to lack of support from local officials and relief workers. worsened by the failure of the State to cooperate and coordinate with agencies.
Anger is mounting as Turkey’s president faces an election in three months’ time, likely to be the closest contest in Erdogan’s 20 years of rule.
“They failed in this as they failed in every other issue, they don’t know how to manage the stateKemal Kilikdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party CHP, Said, “If someone is responsible for this process, it is Erdoğan. It is the ruling party which has not prepared the country for earthquakes for 20 years.”
Erdoğan’s attitude in dealing with this humanitarian crisis could affect the election results. The then-government’s failed response to a massive earthquake in northwest Turkey in 1999 was widely seen as giving Erdogan’s AKP party an opportunity to garner popular support.
a Turkish official told reuters on Thursday that officials may consider postponing this year’s election because of the earthquake.
“It seems that we have come out of the election phase that we were entering. We will watch the developments, but as of now there are serious difficulties in holding the elections on 14th May. Some opposition politicians believe the elections will go ahead, even if they are ultimately delayed.
The death toll in Turkey has risen to 19,388, while around 77,711 people have been injured.
Earlier this week, Kılıçdaroğlu visited several areas affected by the earthquake, where residents complained about the lack of efficient search and rescue operations.
Critics say that Turkey’s national funds for natural disasters were spent on highway construction projects managed by allies of the government. The buildings that have collapsed in many areas were built in the early 2010s or as recently as the past few years and normally should have followed earthquake regulations after the 1999 disaster.
Emergency teams are struggling to reach some of the affected areas, due to broken roads, bad weather, and a lack of resources and heavy equipment, as some areas have no fuel or electricity. The centralization of Turkey’s government means that many restrictions have been placed on how aid organizations can operate, hampering rescue efforts.
Some survivors said they were left without food or water in freezing temperatures, while others reported that even though they could hear their loved ones trapped under the rubble, no rescue workers could rescue them. I didn’t come to help.
On Thursday, three days after the earthquake, Erdogan inspected some areas and promised financial aid of 10,000 lira (€494) for each affected family, while social housing would be built for all survivors within a year.
He also acknowledged that “of course, there were shortcomings” because “it is not possible to be prepared for such a disaster,” but that “things are now back on track.” And he hit back at critics of the state’s response.
“Some unscrupulous, unscrupulous people are making false statements like ‘we did not see any soldiers or police.’ Our jawans and police are honourable, we will not let their defamation speak like this.
However on Friday Erdoğan acknowledged that the search and rescue operation could have been faster.
“Although we have the largest search and rescue team in the world right now, it is a reality that search efforts are not as rapid as we would like,” he said.
“We will reconstruct these buildings within a year and hand them back to the citizens. While we do this, we will pay the rent of citizens who do not want to stay in tents.”