Space Industry and Business News
DEMOCRACY
Quake anger ebbs in Erdogan stronghold ahead of vote
Quake anger ebbs in Erdogan stronghold ahead of vote
By Dmitry ZAKS
Kahramanmaras, Turkey (AFP) April 5, 2023

Latif Dalyan offers shirts and sweatpants at knock-down prices to Turkey's earthquake victims from a storefront surrounded by piles of debris.

The last person the 58-year-old shopkeeper wants to blame for his ruined city's troubles is the country's president.

"If there is one man who can make this country stand up again, it is Recep Tayyip Erdogan," Dalyan said near the February quake's epicentre in the city of Kahramanmaras.

"May God give every country a leader like him."

Dalyan's fervour contrasts sharply with the cries of pain and anger that rang out when the 7.8-magnitude jolt and its aftershocks wiped out swathes of Turkey's mountainous southeast in February.

Anguished survivors listened to loved ones slowly perish under mounds of rubble in the freezing cold.

Many blamed the government and its stuttering response to Turkey's worst disaster of its modern era for a death toll that has now surpassed 50,000.

But that fury is gradually giving way to a mixture of fatalism and reviving trust in the man this province gave three-fourths of its votes to in the last general election in 2018.

That spells trouble for the opposition's hopes of ending Erdogan's two-decade domination of Turkey in new polls set for May 14.

"Nobody can be perfect and no government can be perfect," Dalyan said. "Everyone can make mistakes."

- 'We will not campaign' -

Aydin Erdem, director of the KONDA research firm, found something similar in polls conducted across Turkey's disaster zone.

"Our surveys do not support claims that the (ruling party's) vote dropped a lot because of what happened," Erdem told Turkish media this week.

"The electorate is consolidating around their respective parties."

The presidential and parliamentary votes next month are widely seen as the most important of Turkey's post-Ottoman history.

Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted party have shaped society in their image and tested the strength of Turkey's secular traditions.

Critics accuse them of mismanaging the economy and using the courts to silence critics and imprison political foes.

The government's sluggish search and rescue effort appeared to offer the united opposition a chance to capitalise on this discontent.

Cem Yildiz does not quite see it that way.

The 34-year-old deputy head of CHP, the main opposition party in the Kahramanmaras province, has done almost no campaigning to date.

He says he fears that pushing people to vote during a moment of profound grief is both indecent and self-defeating.

"We will not campaign because the people here are in pain," he said next to a container home that serves as his party's temporary headquarters.

"We visit people to help them with their problems. We don't ask for their votes."

- 'We had momentum' -

The main office for the CHP, created by the secular state's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was one of untold number of local buildings levelled or damaged by the quake.

Party officials decided to set up their new camp in a remote pocket of the city with a strong liberal lean.

Local men while away the hours in a teahouse on a street that witnessed a bloody attack by neo-Fascists on socialists and Alevi Kurds in 1978 that killed more than 100 people.

CHP supporter Mustafa Akdogan remembers those troubled days with queasy foreboding.

"Democracy, human rights and especially the rule of law have vanished in the past four or five years," the 67-year-old retired teacher said.

"So these elections are very important."

But the self-imposed pause in his local party's campaigning leaves Akdogan less certain of victory than he was before the disaster struck.

"We had momentum before the quake," he said. "Now, I am not sure."

- 'Afraid to say anything' -

The city of Kahramanmaras and the province had more than a million people before February 6.

Officials struggle to estimate how many remain today. Deserted streets are dotted with tent camps and families sitting outside crumbled homes.

Some locals said Kahramanmaras was filled mostly by poorer people who either never had the chance to move out or had spent their savings living in more intact parts of Turkey.

Yasemin Tabak, a housewife, said she had no complaints about returning to Kahramanmaras.

She recalled Erdogan's promise to rebuild homes within a year and smiled. "Our people have to be a little patient," the 40-year-old said.

"May God protect our government," her tent neighbour Ayse Ak agreed.

But two other women looking down from a hill at a vast empty space where blocks of apartments once stood suggested a quiet undercurrent of scepticism.

"People are afraid to say anything against the government here," the younger of them said.

"They will never do it on camera or give you their name. And I'm afraid too."

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
DEMOCRACY
US says rule of law keeps declining in Hong Kong
Washington (AFP) March 31, 2023
The United States said Friday that the rule of law has kept declining in Hong Kong, where China in 2020 imposed a tough national security law to stamp out dissent. In a required report to Congress, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China "continues to erode Hong Kong's judicial independence and the rule of law." "We urge PRC authorities to restore Hong Kongers their protected rights and freedoms, release those unjustly detained or imprisoned and respect the rule of law and human rights ... read more

DEMOCRACY
OpenAI's ChatGPT blocked in Italy: privacy watchdog

WVU researchers explore alternative sources to help power space

Big E3 videogame expo in US is canceled

What can we do about all the plastic waste

DEMOCRACY
Northrop Grumman demonstrates platform agnostic in-flight connectivity for USAF

Silvus Technologies unveils Spectrum Dominance

Rensselaer researcher breaks through the clouds to advance satellite communication

Space Systems Command demonstrates satellite anti-jam capability

DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRACY
Telit Cinterion adds Dual-Band GNSS Positioning to AIROHA AG3335 Chipsets

Monogoto teams with Skylo and SODAQ to deliver NB-IoT satellite asset tracking

Quectel announces CC200A-LB satellite module for IoT

Topcon further expands MC-X Platform with all-new GNSS Option

DEMOCRACY
Airbus to open 2nd plane assembly line in China, double output

European aviation sector fears CO2 rules could clip its wings

Amsterdam airport to ban private jets, night flights

'Unbearable': Vietnam airport construction dust blankets homes, school

DEMOCRACY
China calls for WTO review of US-led chip export restrictions

Chinese FM says Japanese chip curbs to drive Beijing's self-reliance

China launches security probe into US chipmaker Micron

Japan unveils export control plans for chip equipment

DEMOCRACY
At the end of the dry season: CO2 pulses over Australia

Spire Global awarded NOAA contract for satellite weather data

Satellogic announces integration with SkyFi

NASA, SpaceX to launch air quality sensor over North America

DEMOCRACY
Raw sewage blights once-idyllic beaches on Isle of Wight

US sues Norfolk Southern over toxic train derailment

Toothpaste tablets and syrup on tap: US refill shops cut the container

Microplastic pollution impairs seabird gut health

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.