The Turkish opposition, known as the "table for six," waited for the government to stumble without putting forward much of a political perspective of their own.

The AK Party has been in power for more than 20 years in Türkiye. When we look at we the polls at the end of 20 years, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) votes as the first party are almost twice that of the opposition party that came after it.

When we consider the last four years, no one government has had to handle so many traumatic calamities in Türkiye. First of all, there was a pandemic period that shook the whole world, upset the economies, put transportation activities into trouble and turned the supply chain into a mess.

The coronavirus pandemic was a deuce of a period in which people could not work, were sitting at home, and cities, roads and factories were closed. It was like a disaster scenario of a horror movie for those who survived by working and producing.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Türkiye's economy was not in good shape like other global economies. Of course, we know that the Turkish economy is more fragile than the economies of Europe and the United States. So we have been affected by the economic edge of the problem slightly more than Western countries during the pandemic. One must also note that Türkiye had recently renewed and modernized its health infrastructure and could have managed the epidemic process exceptionally well on a robust ground.

When we had left the crisis behind, the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, and in a way, we all were back to the Cold War era again.

On the other hand, millions of refugees continued to flow to Türkiye after the crises in Syria, which has been going on for over 10 years, and later Afghanistan. Türkiye, which never closed its arms of compassion to the people of Ottoman remnant countries and the neighboring and fraternal communities in turbulent times, continued to help people who had difficulties despite the reluctance of the West in fulfilling the commitments to share the economic burden.

Harsh economic circumstances

All of the above impacted the formation of harsh economic circumstances. The government did not let such conditions oppress low-income people. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government remarkably improved the minimum wages and civil servant salaries and touched millions of lives through some financial regulation packages. The people's favor toward the state and the current government continued to increase despite the crises. The government was ensuring economic recovery through proper and stable fiscal management. The interest shown in the opposition bloc was short-lived and was left nearly nine months behind.

When the Kahramanmaraş earthquake severely affected 11 provinces, the opposition parties again had hope amid the tragedy. They did not contribute wholeheartedly to the post-earthquake process, hoping that the destruction of the earthquake could do what the pandemic or the wars could not manage.

The metropolitan municipalities in the hands of the opposition stood on the sidelines of the post-earthquake process, very reluctantly, without giving remarkable support, hoping that the government would also be in ruins.

In a recent survey, we asked around 10 questions about search and rescue, social assistance capabilities demonstrated by the government, the speed of establishing hospitals and treating patients in the disaster areas, economic support and housing works started. In all these, between 55% and 80% of the citizens gave a positive answer, stating that they appreciate the government's performance.

The post-earthquake research data is disappointing for the opposition bloc, an issue they hoped would demolish the government. The nation shows that the government is fulfilling its duties and that the people greatly appreciate it.