A flurry of promises of effective assistance to those affected by the earthquake and metered doses of self-criticism, Tayyip Erdogan yesterday he tried to defend his position against the militant opposition, which lays on him a serious responsibility for resolving the humanitarian crisis in connection with the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey.

The President of Turkey toured yesterday the province of Antiyaman, one of the provinces most heavily hit by Enceladus, at a time when, at the latest authorities count, the death toll exceeded 20,200 and more than 75,000 injured. Among other things, he promised an allowance of £15,000 (750 euros) for every family affected by the earthquake and state rent for those who do not want to stay in the camps. About 76,000 citizens were evacuated from ten affected areas thanks to free Turkish Airlines flights.

Reconstruction

In addition, Tayyip Erdogan announced an annual program for the reconstruction of areas affected by natural disasters, and stressed that, thanks to the state of emergency, the authorities will very strictly and immediately deal with cases of robbery in markets and residential buildings, as well as cases of fraud around humanitarian aid. . Although he acknowledged that “it was not possible to move as fast as I would have liked”, which he attributed to objective difficulties (the size of the disasters, bad weather conditions, etc.), he rejected criticism from the opposition, stating, that “we will not allow political speculation on people’s pain.”

Earlier, party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, argued that “the earthquake was huge, but even more massive than the earthquake, there was inconsistency, lack of planning and incompetence” of the rulers. For her part, Meral Aksener, head of the also opposition nationalist AI Party, said that “one-man rule is the main culprit in today’s chaos.”

Assad’s visit to Aleppo, the lifting of international sanctions to address the dire shortage, demands Damascus.

The opposition says the Islamists have done nothing to prepare the country for a major earthquake in their 20 years in power, ignoring the lessons of the 1999 disaster, and blame them for cases of gross negligence and wrongdoing by construction companies, many of which were favored by the ruling party and expanded in his day. As noted in the Bloomberg report, the strictest urban planning rules adopted since 1999 were in many cases violated because the competent state authorities did not exercise effective control.

Assad couple

In Syria, where the official death toll rose to 3,377 yesterday afternoon, bringing the death toll to over 23,500 in both countries combined, President Bashar al-Assad, accompanied by his wife Asma, was at Aleppo University Hospital, where the presidential couple visited wounded. The Damascus parliament called on the West to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria due to a severe shortage of fuel and equipment needed to overcome the humanitarian crisis. The Syrian Red Crescent made the same call.

But the Americans and their main European allies are refusing so far, content to help through humanitarian organizations, despite the fact that the UN World Food Program is sending a warning signal that its stocks intended for the Syrian population are running out. For its part, the Syrian government yesterday approved the distribution of humanitarian aid to areas not under its control, specifying that aid will be distributed through the UN, the Syrian Red Crescent and the International Red Cross. Finally, France announced emergency assistance to the Syrian population in the amount of 12 million euros, specifying that it will be allocated in agreement with non-governmental organizations and the UN.