The discussion took place on October 26 behind closed doors, with the prime minister reportedly alleging that opposition criticism of the government essentially amounted to support for the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Such jabs aside, Bitterness with Ankara’s quake response is far from uniform in heavily Kurdish southeastern Turkey. The proposal failed because of procedural regulations, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
“We believe this earthquake is a new problem in the politics of Turkey.” The day of the earthquake, the BDP made some attempt at defusing tensions with Ankara with a proposal to postpone a parliamentary debate on the Kurdish conflict. Those refusals have since been rescinded. “The government is helping people close to the AKP much more than those close to the BDP,” she said, also criticizing the government for refusing several foreign assistance offers during the earthquake’s immediate aftermath. “Those who are able to organize people to throw stones at police and soldiers, vandalizing the streets, throwing Molotov cocktails, you see, are nowhere to be seen in the hour of disaster.” In an interview with, BDP parliamentarian Sebahat Tuncel turned the accusation back on the government. “The municipalities in that region fail to reach out to an area that is right next to them,” Erdoğan said, according to the Today’s Zaman newspaper. In a sarcastic tone, he belittled the BDP’s capabilities. Meanwhile, Kurdish and Turkish politicians are trading barbs over the rescue effort. Speaking in parliament shortly after the tragedy, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan contrasted assistance efforts coordinated by local governments controlled by his governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) with those of the Kurdish-oriented BDP. The Turkish Red Crescent has cautioned that possibly thousands more could still be buried under rubble. We vote BDP and so they ignore us.” The earthquake’s death toll now stands at 523, with 1,650 people injured. “The government only looks after their own people.
A widespread perception in the village is that ethnic enmity played a role in the slow response. “They are ignoring us because we are Kurds,” charged 27-year-old Feyzullah Yildiz. People here are angry at the army, the government, and most state agencies involved in the emergency response effort because, for three days after the catastrophe, the only help to reach the stricken village, situated on a main road, were 60 tents from the Turkish Red Crescent. But as the atmosphere in Gedikbulak attests, it has also at times underscored the bitter dispute dividing Turks and the country’s Kurdish minority. In this village of 2,000 people, 10 people died, 70 were seriously injured, and every single house was damaged beyond repair in the 7.2 magnitude quake. (Photo: Alexander Christie-Miller)Īs a military helicopter roars over the Kurdish village of Gedikbulak in southeastern Turkey, a crowd of men looks up, some muttering in anger. The catastrophic earthquake that struck eastern Turkey on October 23, and the ensuing aid and rescue effort, has brought wide sections of Turkish society together. Seismograms may take several moments to load.Rescuers dig in the rubble of a six-story apartment building, which once housed a ground-floor market and bakery in Ercis - the city worst hit by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
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