Earthquake Compounds Turkish Leader’s Woes as Election Nears

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got here to energy 20 years in the past driving a wave of public outrage towards the earlier authorities’s dealing with of a lethal earthquake.

Now, three months away from an election, Erdogan’s political future might hinge on how the general public perceives his authorities’s response to a equally devastating natural disaster.

“It will be an enormous problem for Erdogan, who has established a model for himself as an autocratic determine however an environment friendly one which will get the job performed,” mentioned Soner Cagaptay, a Turkey knowledgeable on the Washington Institute and the creator of a number of books on Erdogan.

The aftermath of a large earthquake is not the one parallel to the election of 2002. Again then, Turkey was within the midst of a monetary disaster that was punishing its financial system.

At this time, Turkey’s financial system is being hammered by skyrocketing inflation, and Erdogan has confronted widespread criticism for his dealing with of the issue, which has left tens of millions of poor and center class individuals struggling to make ends meet.

Erdogan’s political rivals have already begun criticizing his authorities’s response to the earthquake, saying that over the course of 20 years he failed to arrange the nation for the inevitable. Specialists level to lax enforcement of building codes as a significant cause why this week’s quakes had been so lethal. However with lower than 100 days earlier than the election, Erdogan’s rivals have but to place forth a candidate to run in opposition to him.

The reminiscence of how Bulent Ecevit, the late prime minister, was undone by his poor dealing with of monetary and pure disasters 20 years in the past should be on Erdogan’s thoughts as he tries to include the dual issues he faces as we speak, analysts say.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on Feb. 6 was adopted 9 hours later by one other highly effective quake, killing greater than 24,000 individuals in each Turkey and Syria.

The devastation spreads throughout a large swath of Turkey, affecting 10 provinces within the nation’s southeast, and it has strained the flexibility of home and international crews to rapidly execute rescue efforts. Within the first few days after the quake, Turkish tv and social media confirmed individuals ready helplessly beside piles of particles in frigid circumstances, or utilizing their naked arms to claw by rubble.

“We’ll nonetheless should see the result of the reduction efforts, whether or not subzero temperatures proceed, casualties improve, whether or not worldwide help which is flowing might make a distinction,” mentioned Cagaptay.

Erdogan, who toured the area this week, conceded shortcomings within the preliminary phases of the response however insisted that the whole lot was now beneath management.

“If the catastrophe response is powerful, the ruling administration will likely be rewarded, probably within the polls — whether it is poor, the other,” Timothy Ash, an analyst at BlueBay Asset Administration in London, wrote in an e-mail.

Ecevit blamed the poor response after the 1999 quake that killed some 18,000 individuals on the vastness of the destruction. Equally, Erdogan mentioned the response to this week’s quake — which he described because the “strongest within the historical past of this geography” — has been hampered by winter climate and the destruction of a key airport, making it tough to rapidly attain individuals trapped within the rubble.

“It’s not doable to be ready for such a catastrophe,” Erdogan mentioned, promising that “we is not going to depart any of our residents neglected.”

Whereas the bumpy quake response up to now hasn’t been nice for Erdogan’s popularity, analysts say there may be time for him to show issues round earlier than the election set for Could 14.

“He has the levers of state at his command and Turkish politics was hardly a stage taking part in discipline earlier than the earthquake,” Hamish Kinnear, Center East and North Africa analyst for risk-intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, mentioned in an e-mail.

Proper after the quake, Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency, giving him the ability to “lavish public spending” in these areas, mentioned Kinnear, who believes an Erdogan victory continues to be probably.

Erdogan has promised to donate 10,000 Turkish lira ($530) to individuals affected by the quake and to subsidize their lease. On Friday he mentioned an extra 100 billion lira ($5.3 billion) could be allotted for post-quake efforts.

Within the final presidential and parliamentary elections in 2018, Erdogan and his alliance for parliament overwhelmingly gained in seven of the ten provinces devastated by this week’s earthquakes. And lately he has pushed by adjustments that eradicated checks and balances between totally different branches of presidency, concentrating extra energy inside the presidency.

In Turkey, freedom of expression is restricted and the federal government largely controls the media, which has meant tv stations principally present scenes of “miracle rescues,” whereas showing to censor scenes of hardship.

Within the face of crushing inflation, Erdogan has elevated the minimal wage, pensions and civil-servant salaries. Whereas these steps might have been widespread with voters, others have earned him extreme criticism.

For instance, he has insisted on preventing inflation by repeatedly lowering interest rates to stimulate development — a method that mainstream economists all over the world have mentioned solely makes the issue worse.

For now, all eyes are on the earthquake response.

Within the hard-hit metropolis of Adiyaman, Ahmet Aydin, a resident who misplaced six kin in addition to his dwelling, his store and his automotive within the earthquake, complained concerning the sluggish emergency response. However he mentioned he would by no means cease supporting Erdogan — highlighting the Turkish chief’s doubtlessly lasting attraction.

“We belief our president,” Aydin mentioned. “He would by no means depart us alone, he would by no means depart us hungry or thirsty. Could Allah defend him.”

Erdogan’s political rivals inform a unique story.

This week, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the chief of Turkey’s primary opposition social gathering, blamed the devastation on Erdogan’s two-decade rule.

“Let me be very clear; if there one particular person chargeable for this course of, it’s Erdogan,” Kilicdaroglu mentioned in a video handle. “For 20 years, this authorities has not ready the nation for an earthquake.”

He additionally accused the federal government of misspending taxes imposed within the wake of the 1999 quakes that had been supposed to arrange the nation for future disasters.

Because the dying toll continues to rise with every passing day, Erdogan says the nation’s leaders ought to try to be above the political fray.

“This time is one in all unity and standing collectively,” he mentioned on Wednesday. “I can not tolerate how in a time like this such filthy and destructive campaigns are led for the sake of fundamental, political pursuits.”

Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.