Competence and the State!

‘My only legacy is reason and scientific thought’

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Facts

Building and zoning amnesty kills, not earthquakes.

It is the duty of the state to raise public awareness against earthquakes.

In a country where the state takes precautions against earthquakes, earthquakes will not constitute a fate.

Build houses and structures on the rocky cliffs, not on the plains, swamps and riverbeds.

If Afad was managed with a scientific mind based on competence, there would not have been such a delay in responding to the earthquake. The organization and coordination could have been better, and more people could have been rescued from the rubble. 

Although Afad reported on the earthquake to the state with a situation assessment report at 05:00 on the morning of the earthquake, the first response to the earthquake zone was made 35-40 h after the earthquake, which is an indication of the value the state attaches to its people. 

The fact that the army responded to the earthquake 40 h later with a partial force increased the devastating impact of the earthquake on many issues, including security.  

The language of nature is science. Earthquakes are scientific facts. If you replace geography lessons with religion lessons, the consequences will be severe.

Although the main cause of the massive disaster was lack of education, switching universities to distance education in Turkey, where the internet is a problem in many places, and allocating student dormitories to earthquake victims is punishing education.

We Collapsed!

At 04:17 on the night of February 6, 2023, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck in 10 cities in the Southeastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions with a total population of 13.5 million people, destroying thousands of apartment buildings with people sleeping in them. In the middle of the same day, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6, caused by the rupture of a different fault line in the same region, caused the damage to increase exponentially.

Strong State and Desperation!

The state is an institutionalization of institutions. Do we have this? No.

The main task of a state with functioning institutions and rules is to protect its people not only in peace but also in times of disaster. Turkey is an earthquake country. It is the duty of the state to take and implement precautions against earthquakes in advance and to raise awareness among citizens. In the 24 years following the Marmara earthquake in 1999, numerous reports and warnings by scientists were ignored and adequate measures were not taken. 

We learned from the radio and TV speeches of the government spokespersons that in the first 35 h of the great earthquake disaster we experienced, there were city centers where the state could not reach, and there were villages that still could not be reached even after the fourth day. However, it is the duty of a state that exists for its people to be able to show its citizens that it has the power and organizational structure to cope with disasters of any magnitude.

Why Are We Like This?

The government boasts that we are a strong state; of course, this is a good thing for citizens. Well, is this powerful state monitored by a powerful society? No. A strong state must also be egalitarian, with laws and vital public services implemented without discrimination among its citizens. Is that how it is with us? 

Again, no. 

Why is this? 

Because a strong state requires the presence of a strong society to oversee it. 

We have a long way to go for a strong society. We still have a lot to do. The subject is too deep and too big to be covered in an article…  

The State Collapsed!

I remember on August 17, 1999, the second day of the Marmara earthquake, a right-wing media organization ran the headline that the state was late in responding to the earthquake and that the state had collapsed. What has changed in the past 24 years is that the anti-government press organization that published that headline on August 19, 1999, is today siding with the current government and ignoring the state’s total failure and collapse in the South East Anatolian earthquake. 

With the collapse of highways and the runways of Hatay airport, land transportation to Hatay province was not possible for 35 h after the earthquake, and the state did not provide an alternative transportation solution. “Where is the state? Where is Afad?” Cries of the people of the region were shared with Turkey and the world by only a few broadcasters throughout the day, due to the delayed response to thousands of wreckages in the disaster area where snowfall was intense, as well as inadequate equipment and lack of coordination in the response. However, the pro-government media continued to hide and ignore the problems.

Can Government Buildings and Hospitals Collapse in an Earthquake?  

In almost every country in the world, all institutional buildings, including hospitals, are built much stronger and more robust than normal structures in order to serve people after an earthquake. The collapse of state buildings, police stations and hospitals in the earthquake disaster should be seen as a result of zoning amnesties, lack of supervision and control, as well as the selection of pro-government contractors and favoritism in tenders. 

Are Unplanned Urbanization and Zoning Amnesties Killing?

Even in the 100th anniversary of its foundation, the Republic of Turkey is boasting not of high value-added industrial products but of a construction sector with questionable quality; there are 320,000 construction contractors in our country. This is exactly 11 times more than the 28,000 contractors in the EU as a whole. Germany, which has the strongest economy in Europe, has 3,000 construction contractors.

In Turkey, where anyone and everyone can start a construction contractor company and obtain a construction permit and certificate, the lack of control and supervision, the appointment of unqualified and uneducated staff at important positions that manage this process and the granting of licenses to buildings that are not suitable for earthquakes through zoning amnesties issued by the government before almost every election, should be considered as an important earthquake-related problem in Turkey, as well as one of the main causes of the earthquake disaster in South East Anatolia.

To Demand Accountability for Those Responsible!

During his visit to the earthquake zone, the Minister of Justice declared that those responsible would be made accountable.

As I listened to his speech, I realized that my facial muscles were flexing; those responsible for the August 17, 1999, Marmara earthquake and its aftermath were also going to be punished. What I remember is that a contractor named Veli Göçer was made a scapegoat and found guilty. He was sentenced and soon returned to construction work! Other responsible people like him are walking among us today. 

Why is it like this?

Because the society in Turkey is far from being able to oversee the state in its wrongdoings…

For example:

Were those responsible punished after the Soma mine disaster?

Of course not!

What is usually done is that after almost every disaster, a commission is set up in the Parliament, chaired by a member of the ruling party. Why the chairperson of this commission cannot/will not be a member of the opposition is another reality of Turkey. Anyway, even if the commission established in the Parliament made a series of decisions that were publicized, none of these decisions will ever be implemented and the incident will be forgotten with the erasure of traces in the lapse of time. 

In my opinion, if a list is to be drawn up to punish those responsible for the earthquake disaster in South East Anatolia:

Article 1 should target state administrators who fail to protect their people by failing to take measures, who allow unplanned urbanization and who issue zoning amnesties before every election. 

Article 2 should target those who demand zoning amnesty, those who applaud those who issued the ninth zoning amnesty in the last 20 years and those who, even one step later, cannot imagine that they are essentially buying their own graves with the zoning amnesties they demand. 

Article 3 should target those who make the growth plan indexed to domestic consumption and construction, who establish 11 times more construction contractors than the total number of contractors in the whole EU and who issue construction permits.

The list could go on; there is so much to write. I will not continue. I will return to the point of the society overseeing the state; I leave it to you to decide where the following complaint of the great poet and intellectual Namık Kemal should be placed on the list.

Namik Kemal’s Address to the Masses

“Those who are in wool-gathering! Those who are accustomed to misery! Those who worship to be in captivity! Will you open your eyes just in the nick of the great crowd? You keep the chain of captivity on your neck just to hand over it to the owner of hell!

When will you ever wake up! When will you think about your prosperity? When will you know that you have the willpower and right of choice?”

Is Earthquake Destiny?

66% of Turkey is located in the first and second degree earthquake zones. We have to know and accept this reality, and we have to investigate, learn and become aware of the facts for each individual. In Turkey, earthquakes should no longer be a fate for our people; this should be the primary duty of the state.

The tragedy is that the fatalistic understanding of the rulers of the state, who try to distract the public by saying “fate, destiny, things that happen in the destined plan” in front of the cameras after every disaster in Turkey, and the political Islamists who support this distorted understanding that has been going on for 70 years, aim to normalize even such major disasters and want to maintain their ruling power.

If those who govern the state must define a destiny plan, they should accept the earthquakes that have happened and will happen in Turkey as our reality and life as our destiny, and strive to improve the quality of human life. 

The great earthquake disaster has once again made us realize that the emperor has no clothes.

Thanks

The earthquake disaster in Southeastern Anatolia demonstrated that despite all the negativity, suffering and despair in the region, the Turkish people acted with a great sense of unity, solidarity and cooperation. This solidarity is in fact our greatest asset, and we should be proud of it.

The rescue teams made superhuman efforts, braved hunger, thirst and sleeplessness and became the hope of the people waiting for their relatives trapped under the rubble; they pulled many people out of the rubble despite the adverse winter conditions and helped them to hold on to life again, and as a citizen of the country, I think that saving even one person’s life is the ultimate humanity.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have worked hard on this path.

Get well soon, Turkey!