Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan caused an angry backlash after he asked for blessing from residents of the Adıyaman district, a province failed by state institutions in the 6 February earthquake disaster relief response.
Accompanied by his ally Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Erdoğan visited Adıyaman, one of the 10 provinces in Turkey heavily destroyed in the earthquakes.
It took almost a day after the tremor hit for the government and the media to find out about the large scale affects of the disaster in Adıyaman, despite urgent calls to the governor’s office demanding emergency support.
During the visit, Erdoğan said that Adıyaman was one of the worst affected provinces in the disaster.
“Unfortunately we could not carry out work as effective as we wished in the early days. Now we ask for blessing. We are aware of everything. Nobody should doubt that we will do what is required,” the president said.
Erdoğan’s statement came after Turkey, over the weekend, witnessed football fans demanding that the government resign from power. The president’s ally, Bahçeli on Sunday resigned from membership of the Beşiktaş team, in response to protests during the football club’s match.
Adıyaman, with its mainly conservative population, is a stronghold of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), though the province is also home to Alevi communities. Erdoğan received 67.4 percent of the votes in Adıyaman in the 2018 presidential elections.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) was the first to respond Erdoğan’s statements on Monday, saying on Twitter that the party will not give its blessings to those who used earthquake preparation fund taxes for other purposes, who left many people to freeze to death after the earthquake, who used the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and the Turkish Red Crescent to create financial gains for its supporters, and who have declared several construction amnesties.
Many on social media, including earthquake survivors that posted photos of lost loved ones, used the hashtag #helaletmiyorum [#Idonotgivemyblessing] in response to Erdoğan. Some also used the hashtag #hükümetistifa [#governmentresign] in their posts.
Erdoğan also answered questions about criticisms made against the Turkish Red Crescent, after it became clear on Sunday that the disaster relief organisation sold the tents in its stocks to a charity on the third day of the earthquake.
“Do not take seriously those sycophants who on the one side attack the Red Crescent and attack AFAD on the other,” Erdoğan simply said.
