The politicization of Turkish institutions delayed the rescue in the earthquake, denounce opposition and experts

As rescue workers clear rubble in search of the last survivors of the earthquake in Turkey a week after what, with more than 33,000 deaths, is already the deadliest modern-era quake in the region, many wonder if the government response was the proper one.

How many more lives might have been saved may be an unwelcome question given the magnitude of the disaster, but it is pertinent to those who stood for hours or even days at the foot of ruined buildings, waiting for rescue equipment and machinery to appear.

The Turkish president himself, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has acknowledged that the aid arrived "not as fast" as could be expected, but he attributes it to the circumstances: the extent of the devastated area, together with the destruction caused by the earthquake on the roads of access, the snow and rain storm that hit the area and the traffic congestion caused by the arrival of help and the flight of those affected.

The opposition, and various experts consulted, emphasize the mismanagement of institutions eroded by 20 years of Erdoganism.

Saadet Sendag salutes with a raised fist after being rescued after spending 177 hours in the rubble of a building in the province of Hatay (Turkey), this Monday. UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

A person warms up on a bonfire in a street in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, this Monday.

SUHAIB SALEM (REUTERS)

Members of the Military Emergency Unit have managed to rescue two children, aged six and two, and their mother alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Nurdagui, belonging to the province of Gaziantep (Turkey).

A man walks on crutches past the rubble of a building in Turkey's Hatai region on Friday.

YASIN AKGUL (AFP)

Burial of one of the victims of the earthquake in the Turkish city of Adıyaman, this Friday.

Emrah Gurel (AP)

Aerial photograph showing the destruction caused by the earthquake in the city of Kahramanmaras (Turkey), this Friday.

ABIR SULTAN (EFE)

Women crying in front of the graves of those who died from the earthquake last Monday in Adiyaman (Turkey), this Friday. Emrah Gurel (AP)

A woman in the camp for displaced persons in the Masal park cleans the dishes at a water point in Gaziantep (Turkey), this Friday.ZEIN AL RIFAI (AFP)

A man searches among the remains of a collapsed building in the town of Kahramanmaras (Turkey), this Friday.

STOYAN NENOV (REUTERS)

A woman sits next to the remains of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, this Friday.

SUHAIB SALEM (REUTERS)

Emergency people and volunteers among the ruins of several buildings in Kahramanmaras (Turkey), this Friday.

RONEN ZVULUN (REUTERS)

Aerial image taken through a drone shows the tents for those affected by the earthquakes in the stadium in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, this Friday.

ABIR SULTAN (EFE)

Mehmet Nasir Duran, 67, sitting in a chair next to the challenges of a destroyed building in Nurdagi (Turkey).

Petros Giannakouris (AP)

A girl after being rescued by the emergency services in Kahramanmaras (Turkey), this Thursday.ABIR SULTAN (EFE)

A man walks through the rubble of several buildings in the province of Hatay (Turkey), this Thursday.

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

A group of women warmed themselves this Wednesday around a fire next to the rubble of the earthquake in Kahramanmaras (Turkey). SUHAIB SALEM (REUTERS)

Several Syrian men were crying after identifying the body of a relative killed by the earthquake in the Hatay region (Turkey). AAREF WATAD (AFP)

A survivor was rescued from the rubble of a building in Hatay (Turkey), this Wednesday. ERDEM SAHIN (EFE)

Neighbors of Kahramanmaras search for survivors among the rubble, this Wednesday.

ABIR SULTAN (EFE)

Rescue personnel held the baby Kerem Agirtas on Wednesday, who was pulled from under the rubble in Hatay (Turkey). KEMAL ASLAN (REUTERS)

Aerial view of buildings collapsed by earthquakes in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, this Wednesday. Ahmet Akpolat (AP)

Two men stood with their arms around the remains of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras.

ABIR SULTAN (EFE)

View of a mass grave of the victims of the earthquake, in Jandaris, in the north of Aleppo (Syria), this Wednesday. WHITE HELMETS (REUTERS)

Three children ate bread sitting under a blanket in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, two days after the earthquake struck the region.OZAN KOSE (AFP)

Aerial view of a destroyed building and a soccer field where residents affected by the earthquakes in Azmarin (Syria) take refuge, this Wednesday. ABDULAZIZ KETAZ (AFP)

A woman sat on the rubble of a collapsed building as emergency teams searched Wednesday for survivors in the Turkish city of Nurdagi.Khalil Hamra (AP)

Abdulalim Muaini remained trapped next to the body of his wife inside a building in Hatay (Turkey).

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

Several men carry the bodies of several victims of the earthquakes during their funeral in the city of Jandaris (Syria) this Wednesday. STRINGER (REUTERS)

Aerial view taken this Wednesday by a drone in which several collapsed buildings can be seen in Hatay (Turkey).

ERDEM SAHIN (EFE)

A man treated his injured son on Wednesday while they waited for an ambulance in Hatay, Turkey. Burak Kara (Getty Images)

Mehtez Farac, 8, after being rescued from the rubble of a building in the city of Hatay (Turkey).

KEMAL ASLAN (REUTERS)

Rescuers searched for survivors on Wednesday among the rubble of a collapsed building in the Syrian city of Harim.OMAR HAJ KADOUR (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hugged a woman during his visit this Wednesday to Kahramanmaras, one of the towns most affected by the earthquakes. Europa press

A section of the D420 highway damaged by the earthquake in Demirkopru (Turkey), this Wednesday.BENOIT TESSIER (REUTERS)

A man was carrying the body of a minor in Jandairis (Syria).

BAKR ALKASEM (AFP)

Two men, next to the rubble of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras (Turkey).

OZAN ​​KOSE (AFP)

Two women tried to comfort a man in the city of Kahramanmaras (Turkey) this Wednesday.

SUHAIB SALEM (REUTERS)

Several people warmed themselves by a bonfire in the city of Malatya (Turkey).

Emrah Gurel (AP)

Search work for survivors in the Syrian city of Jandairis.

RAMI AL SAYED (AFP)

A man held the hand of his deceased daughter in the town of Kahramanmaras (Turkey).ADEM ALTAN (AFP)

Aerial view of the Hatay region, Turkey, after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Burak Kara (Getty Images)

A woman is rescued by emergency teams from a collapsed building in the Hatay region of Turkey.

Burak Kara (Getty Images)

Aerial view of the damage after the earthquake in the Turkish region of Hatay.UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

Earthquake survivors collect supplies provided by a diaper factory in Hatay, Turkey.

BULENT KILIC (AFP)

Several residents of the Turkish region of Hatay (south of the country) walk through the rubble.

Many of them are waiting for news of their loved ones, trapped under the ruined buildings.

BULENT KILIC (AFP)

View of the Turkish city of Iskenderun after yesterday's earthquake.

Burak Kara (Getty Images)

An 8-year-old boy, after being rescued in Elbistan, in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, some 600 kilometers southeast of the Turkish capital. IHLAS NEWS AGENCY (IHA) (via REUTERS)

Aerial view of the rubble of what was a building in Turkey's Hatai region.

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

A person searches for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras (Turkey).

SUHAIB SALEM (REUTERS)

A Russian soldier inspects the damage caused to a building in the city of Aleppo (Syria).

Omar Sanadiki (AP)

A woman amid the rubble of a building in Turkey's Hatay region.

BULENT KILIC (AFP)

A child is pulled alive from the rubble in the Syrian city of Al Atareb.

WHITE HELMETS (White Helmets via REUTERS)

Families search for the missing among the rubble of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras (Turkey).

OZAN ​​KOSE (AFP)

Rescue personnel recover the body of a person from the rubble of a building in Aleppo (Syria).

Omar Sanadiki (AP)

Emergency personnel pull a woman out of the rubble in Elbistan (Turkey).

Ismsail Coskun (AP)

A woman sits in the rubble of a building in the Turkish city of Nurdagi.

Khalil Hamra (AP)

A man next to the body of a person who died from the earthquake in the town of Kahramanmaras (Turkey).

OZAN ​​KOSE (AFP)

Members of the rescue teams work among the rubble of a collapsed building in the city of Adana (Turkey).

Hussein Malla (AP)

Residents of the town of Gaziantep (Turkey) observe the rescue efforts.

SUHAIB SALEM (REUTERS)

Emergency workers rescue five-year-old Muhammet Ruzgar from the ruins of a building in the Hatay region of Turkey.

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

The body of a Syrian child in the rubble of a building in the town of Jandaris, in the province of Aleppo.

MOHAMMED AL-RIFAI (AFP)

A woman cries next to the remains of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Alexandretta.

ERDEM SAHIN (EFE)

A resident, after being rescued by emergency services in Turkey's Hatay region.

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

Several women cry next to the remains of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Hatay, this Tuesday.

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

Rescue workers warm themselves at a bonfire in the Syrian town of Sarmada.

AAREF WATAD (AFP)

A woman is rescued by emergency services in the Turkish city of Alexandretta.

UMIT BEKTAS (REUTERS)

Several residents spend the night on the street in the town of Alejandreta (Turkey).

ERDEM SAHIN (EFE)

Rescue teams pull a survivor out of the ruins of a building Tuesday in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.

Khalil Hamra (AP)

“Where is the State?” Many of the victims wondered the first two days after the catastrophe.

This newspaper collected testimonies in various areas of the provinces of Kahramanmaras and Hatay who denounced the absence of help and that they had to face the rescues with their own means.

“It's not just the lack of help.

My relatives in Malatya and Gaziantep [two other provinces affected by the earthquake] tell me that during the first 48 hours there was no interlocutor to contact.

The local authorities had disappeared, the City Council, the prefecture or the Government Delegation did not respond.

There was no police or army,” explains analyst and former diplomat Aydin Sezer.

The metropolitan municipalities of the large cities of the country (Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir), all in the hands of the opposition, were ready to send rescue personnel and trucks loaded with aid, but the Minister of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, called it "provocation". ” any attempt to help other than through official channels.

More information

Latest news of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

“AFAD [the agency under the Turkish Ministry of the Interior that manages emergency aid] ordered the trucks to stop because they said they were going to deliver them.

Well, we are not against it, if they are able to.

The problem is that they were not," criticizes Zeynel Emre, a deputy from the center-left CHP party: "If they had put competent people at the head of AFAD and at the head of the Red Crescent, we would not have had these problems."

One of the most criticized examples is that of Ismail Palakoglu, appointed general director of Disaster Fighting at AFAD last January, despite his training as a theologian and his career has been spent mainly in the Directorate of Religious Affairs of the Government.

Technicians replaced by allies of the president

Similar criticisms have been leveled against the Red Crescent.

"I am ashamed of this organization," said Tekin Küçükali, president of the institution between 2005 and 2011. In several interviews in the Turkish media in recent days, Küçükali has denounced that the "well-prepared cadres" of the Media Luna have been replaced by “inexperienced people”.

In fact, in recent years, the organization has been embroiled in corruption scandals and has been accused of donating part of its money to Islamist NGOs linked to Erdogan's entourage.

Various sources consulted regret that, during its 20 years in power, the Islamist party AKP has placed its own people at the head of State agencies and associations linked to the fight against emergencies without taking into account their preparation.

Nasuh Masruki is one of those who has suffered it.

This mountaineer and founder of the AKUT, the most important search and rescue NGO in Turkey, denounces that he was forced to resign from the presidency of the organization after receiving threats from Erdogan's collaborators.

“We cannot communicate with a large part of our staff, they are under the rubble,” lamented the mayor of Adiyaman, Süleyman Kiliç, days after the earthquake.

And journalist Taha Hüseyin Karagöz, from the pro-government daily

, alleged that part of the delay in the response is due to the fact that, in the affected region, AFAD personnel themselves were left under collapsed buildings or lost immediate family members.

A source from foreign cooperation, with several decades of experience in disaster management, assures that the response was "incredibly good" and "much better than in 1999," when an earthquake devastated the Marmara region and the government at the time. he was heavily criticized for his poor acting.

“I think that the dimensions of what is happening are not understood.

It is an area like Belgium and the Netherlands together, with 13 million inhabitants”, he adds.

Sezer, who also witnessed the disruption in 1999 while working coordinating the delivery of aid from the Turkish Embassy in Moscow, believes that this time "the problem has been the government's inability to delegate to local institutions."

Thus, it has been denounced that cranes and other heavy machines essential for rescue work waited for hours because they did not receive the go-ahead from AFAD to start working.

“There were NGOs that tried to do things, but the government told them no, that everything was going to be done under the control of AFAD.

Every performance had to get the green light from Ankara,” says Sezer.

And he adds a factor that complicates everything: political polarization and competition between the different parties just a few months before the elections.

Today he sees the management of the earthquake with despair: “The first 24 hours were spoiled.

There were coordination problems that only began to be fixed from the second day.

Losing those first 24 hours was a disgrace.

The Armed Forces should have been deployed, which has personnel spread throughout the country and in much greater numbers than AFAD, which has no more than 20,000 employees”.

Masruki points to the mistake of having eliminated the EMASYA protocol, which allowed the army to deploy on the ground, including in cities, without the need for permission from the political authority, in the event of a terrorist threat or natural disaster.

However, the protocol was annulled in 2010 by the Erdogan government because he, he maintained, could be used for coup plans.

Doubts about the date of the elections

Three weeks before the earthquake, President Erdogan indicated that the presidential and legislative elections would take place on May 14.

After the earthquake, a government source stated that there are "serious difficulties" for them to be held then.

Also one of the opposition leaders, Meral Aksener, has conceded that she "does not give time" for that date.

The last elections were on June 24, 2018 and Turkish law provides for a maximum of five years for the next ones to be held.

Only under the state of war can they be postponed beyond that date.

The 10 earthquake-affected provinces, now under a state of emergency, are one of Erdogan's vote granaries.

In the 2018 elections, the president obtained between 63% and 74% of the votes in seven of them.

His party, the Islamist AKP, rules in the capitals of six of these provinces.

In another, his partner, the far-right MHP, does it;

in two others, the main opposition formation, the center-left CHP, and in the last one the pro-Kurdish HDP party governed until the Ministry of the Interior ousted its mayor and appointed a comptroller.

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