Turkey: Anger at government inaction boils over on earthquake anniversary

At a vigil held early on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey, over 10,000 people turned out, with some voicing their disapproval of what they perceived to be government incompetence in the aftermath.

The deadliest earthquake in contemporary Turkish history, measuring magnitude 7.8, destroyed entire towns and portions of cities in the southeast of the nation and neighboring Syria. It caused millions of people to become homeless and killed about 50,000 people in Turkey and about 5,900 in Syria.

People in the hardest-hit province in Turkey, Hatay in the southeast, heckled remarks during the vigil, demanding that local and government officials not show up at the memorial and calling for their resignation.

Locals claim that a large number of deaths were caused by waiting so long to be trapped in the chilly rubble rather than by the buildings toppling.

Following the vigil, flowers were thrown into the Asi River that flows through the city.

In a statement posted on the social media platform X, President Tayyip Erdogan stated that his administration had taken action immediately following what they refer to as “the disaster of the century” and that the grief of the losses resulting from the earthquakes was still as great as it was a year ago.

“The unity of the century was displayed in the face of the disaster of the century,” he said.

(With agency inputs)