Turkey: Erdogan Apologizes to Earthquake Victims for Slow Response

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized on Monday to victims of this month’s series of earthquakes in the east of the country, conceding that emergency services were initially slow and vowing that his government would improve its performance.

Erdogan’s full apology followed the admission two days after the first series of earthquakes on February 6 that there were “some issues” with accessing the affected areas.

Two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6 devastated eastern Turkey — affecting multiple major cities in Turkey and parts of northwest Syria — on February 6, leveling entire communities and leaving 13 million victims, according to Turkish state media. At press time, the combined death toll in Syria and Turkey has surpassed 50,000 people and continues to grow as authorities search the rubble of former buildings for more bodies.

The earthquakes have triggered a massive nationwide backlash against Erdogan and his Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), as seismologists and engineers criticized the poor safety standards of many buildings in the affected communities. The earthquakes, whose aftershocks continued into Monday, occurred along a known fault line in a region where such events are common. Despite this, Erdogan announced an amnesty in 2018 for real estate developers who had flouted safety guidelines and built high-rises and other structures not suited to withstand earthquakes. Erdogan asserted at the time the amnesty, which allowed developers to avoid repairing the buildings if they paid the government a fine, was necessary for economic development in the area, as simply too many developers had broken the law.

Erdogan is facing re-election this year. Turks are expected to go to the polls in June, though Erdogan had previously suggested moving the election up to May prior to the earthquake and AKP loyalists have suggested delaying it in the aftermath of the disaster. Despite having his top political rivals imprisoned on various dubious charges, such as supporting terrorism or insulting the government, the earthquake and its aftermath have significantly weakened Erdogan politically, potentially hurting his chances to stay in power.

Erdogan’s apology came with a plea to Turks to give him at least a year to rebuild what the earthquake destroyed.

“Due to the devastating effect of the tremors and the bad weather, we were not able to work the way we wanted in Adiyaman for the first few days. I apologize for this,” Erdogan said on Monday. The state-run Anadolu news agency did not publish the full quote in English, but reported that Erdogan had “apologized.”

Erdogan made the remarks during a visit to Adiyaman province, which suffered extensive earthquake damage this month.

The president had previously conceded that his government faced “some issues” on the first day of the earthquake, a rare departure from touting his administration’s alleged successes.

“On the first day we experienced some issues but then on the second day and today the situation is under control,” Erdogan claimed on February 8.

Elsewhere in the visit on Monday, he promised residents, many of whom are now homeless, the rapid construction of 309,000 homes in the greater region and nearly 50,000 in Adiyaman alone.

“We are determined to build a life much livelier than in the past. That’s why I ask my people to pledge me one year,” Erdogan said, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. “I promise in front of my people that we will almost heal our wounds from the earthquakes in one year as we have always fulfilled our vows and resolved the problems that were deemed to be unsolvable.”

“Don’t permanently leave your cities and hometowns. We will build much more strong, beautiful and better houses for you,” the president implored.

Erdogan reportedly made the explicit promise to not rebuild on the fault lines and enhance the security of new buildings by ensuring they are built on solid ground and forbidding the construction of high-rises in sensitive areas. This reconstruction, he said, would begin as soon as possible.

Potentially blocking the start of this new construction is the ongoing occurrence of deadly aftershocks, which continues into this week. On February 21, an aftershock in the same eastern Turkish region killed eight people. At least two people died on Monday in Malatya, another eastern province, and another 140 people sustained injuries.

Erdogan nonetheless reiterated his promise to build upwards of 300,000 homes in the area on Tuesday.

“With the completion of debris removal activities, we are starting the reconstruction and revival of our region,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday, according to the Erdogan-friendly newspaper Yeni Safak. “In a few months, we are starting the construction of 309,000 houses, including village houses, throughout the earthquake zone.”

Erdogan’s contrition and large-scale promises are a response to increasing public discontent about the AKP’s two decades in power. The main opposition party, the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), lambasted Erdogan for his apology on Tuesday.

“He asks for forgiveness. There is no forgiveness for killing your people,” CHP leader and likely presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said. “You did it, and you did it on purpose. You caused the death of nearly 50,000 citizens. How will you ask for forgiveness from a citizen who froze to death?”

The head of the Kurdish-friendly, left-leaning Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), much of whose leadership Erdogan has imprisoned or forced into retirement, simply asserted, “people will never forgive you.”

“You can’t turn a deaf ear to the voices calling for the resignation of the government. What you have to do is to accept responsibility and resign,” HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan demanded.

Multiple minority political parties are also calling for Erdogan to resign, the independent Turkish Minute outlet reported.

Turkish soccer fans took the opportunity of multiple games this weekend to chant slogans calling for Erdogan to resign. In at least two venues in Istanbul, long an anti-Erdogan stronghold, fans reportedly chanted “government resign!” and “twenty years of lies and cheating, resign!” according to Reuters.

The Turkish government has attempted to silence much of the dissent through announcing that hundreds of citizens had been targeted – detained, questioned, or simply put on a list – for making “provocative” comments online, allegedly attempting to scam earthquake victims, or otherwise flouting the law under Erdogan. The Turkish government debuted a mobile application to help people report “fake news” and “disinformation” to authorities the day after the earthquake.

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