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Days after Turkey experienced its biggest catastrophe in generations, Hakan Tanriverdi has a direct warning for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Don’t come here asking for votes.”
During Erdogan’s two-decade tenure, the earthquake that killed more than 21,000 people in Turkey and Syria struck at a politically difficult time.
The Turkish president has requested that a crucial election be held on May 14 in order to extend the term of his Islamic-based administration till 2028.
His fractured opposition has limited time left before the election to resolve their disagreements and choose a single presidential candidate because of the date.
It remains to be seen if the vote can still take place as scheduled.
In all 10 earthquake-affected provinces, Erdogan has proclaimed a three-month state of emergency. Many people in the area are still living on the streets or in their cars as the dead are still being dug up.
Here, it seems impossible to run for office.
However, Erdogan has a very personal political dimension as well.
The earthquake occurred just as he was starting to recover momentum and raise his support ratings from a low set during a severe economic crisis that erupted last year.
Erdogan should be concerned about Tanriverdi’s animosity in a province where he easily defeated his secular opposition competitor in the most recent election in 2018.
When asked about the government’s earthquake response, Tanriverdi replied, “We were terribly saddened because no one backed us.”
Erdogan counters.
Adiyaman province, one of the hardest damaged by the earthquake, is rife with complaints similar to Tanriverdi’s.
Locals complain that rescuers were not dispatched in time to extract victims who had survived the first crucial hours. Some cited the absence of equipment needed to drill through concrete slabs.
Mehmet Yildirim, a resident of Adiyaman, claimed that he had not seen anyone until 2:00 pm on the second day after the earthquake.
“No state, no police, no government, and no army. Shame on you. We were left on our own by you.”
Erdogan acknowledged “shortcomings” in the way the government handled the catastrophe on Wednesday.
However, he is also retaliating. The 68-year-old oversaw a conference on rescue efforts on Tuesday in Ankara and then traveled to many affected cities the next two days.
He still hasn’t been to Adiyaman.
That infuriates Hediye Kalkan, a volunteer who traveled almost 150 kilometers (95 miles) to assist with the Adiyaman rescue and recovery mission.
On a day like this, she questioned, “Why doesn’t the state show itself?”
“People are removing the bodies of their kin by themselves.”
Is it a sin, you ask?
Any rescue operation would be challenging given the disaster’s size and timing, which involved a vast, remote area in the middle of a winter storm.
In carefully orchestrated visits that were shown on national media, Erdogan has generally been welcomed by the villagers.
One older woman approached Erdogan and sobbed on his shoulder.
If given the opportunity to debate the Turkish president, Veysel Gultekin might not act similarly.
Gultekin claimed to have witnessed one of his relatives’ foot caught in the rubble after they had fled to the street following Monday’s early-morning tremor.
Gultekin claimed, “If I had a basic drill, I could have taken him out alive. But because he was totally imprisoned, he passed away following a powerful aftershock.
On Thursday, AFP correspondents observed more tools and rescuers—including international teams—around crumbling structures.
Tanriverdi’s suffering was not alleviated by this, either.
Those who survived the earthquake were “left to die in the cold,” he claimed. People being abandoned to die in such a way is sinful, right?
