Five days after the devastating earthquake in Turkey, the finger is pointed at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu says the Turkish president is responsible for the thousands of deaths. “In his 20 years of administration, he has not prepared the country for an earthquake like this,” said Kilicdaroglu.
The opposition leader points out that Turkey has a lot of experience with earthquakes, but that this knowledge has remained untapped. Erdogan’s governments have taken a political rather than a practical stance in preparing for such a disaster. Numerous NGOs, local authorities or even the military were not involved or got involved too late, the opposition leader said, according to Turkish media.
Turkey correspondent Joost Lagendijk finds the criticisms special. ‘On the one hand, it is rather inappropriate to start doing the political profit and loss account now. But at the same time, this is reality. The discussion has already begun in the international and national press. Even though it has been ignored by state media and the government until now.”
‘Aidless Areas’
However, Lagendijk notes that “criticism is there”. ‘Particularly outside the big cities, large areas have been deprived of aid. People really wonder how so many houses collapsed. While after 1999, when the last major earthquake occurred, a lot of money would have been invested in the construction of anti-seismic houses”.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
