Insulting remarks toward supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) accusing them of ignorance is nothing new among opposition supporters. Yet, after Sunday’s elections, it evolved into an unhinged hatred toward survivors of the Feb. 6 earthquakes in the country’s south.
Erdoğan, who surpassed the opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the first round of the vote, lashed out at the opposition and its supporters for their behavior toward his voters in a tweet he posted on Thursday. The president on Wednesday shared a video of a conversation between a minister of his government and a man who worked as a volunteer in search and rescue efforts who complained about opposition supporters' insulting earthquake victims. Thursday, he criticized “the mindset which lost its balance after the election defeat.”
“The victory of the People’s Alliance destabilized the chair of the CHP and CHP administration,” the president said about the Republican People’s Party (CHP) of Kılıçdaroğlu. “They knew the outcome but staged a play that night, pretending to win,” he said, referring to controversial remarks by the prominent names of the opposition who claimed the official results were distorted or missing and that they were ahead of Erdoğan and his People’s Alliance. “They did not even apologize to their supporters or the public they deliberately misled. This same mindset launched attacks that won’t align with humanitarian values, let alone political motivations, against citizens who did not vote for them,” he said.
Several social media users swore at and insulted voters supporting Erdoğan and the AK Party in provinces the president garnered massive support in the elections, branding them as “ungrateful” for the humanitarian aid poured into the disaster zone by the CHP-run municipalities and supporters of the opposition. Angered by the reaction, some earthquake survivors even wired money to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, “paying back” the aid. As a result, nine out of 11 provinces hit by the deadly disaster voted for the AK Party, while Kılıçdaroğlu was ahead in Diyarbakır and Hatay provinces.
Erdoğan said in his tweet that “circles” linked to the opposition exhibited “all kinds of merciless attitudes” toward the earthquake survivors, from “cutting off aid to the disaster zone to forcing out survivors they hosted in hotels.”
The CHP-run Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality, which has been providing accommodation to earthquake survivors, told them to leave the hotels they were staying at following the earthquakes. Dumbfounded by the move, quake survivors decried the municipality’s decision. “They think we deserve this just because the earthquake zone voted for the AK Party?” a quake survivor said to Hürriyet daily.
The quake survivors were accommodated in designated hotels until the construction of permanent homes as per a contract. Still, they were evicted before the contract’s legal date, which was recorded as August 2023. Gathered in front of the hotel they had been staying at, quake survivors told the press that Tekirdağ municipality told them they would remain there for six months and that their stay would be extended if their homes were not completed on the promised date. “They’re doing this because we voted for the AK Party, and now we will vote again for the AK Party on purpose,” they said. Tekirdağ governorate announced that they would cover the accommodation of earthquake victims, while the municipality claimed that the evacuation was not political.
The head of the CHP’s women’s branch in the Darıca district of Kocaeli, Nevriye Cura Gir, targeted quake survivors for their political choice. “God damn our love for humans,” Gir said, adding that it is good that the earthquake survivors buried the dead. However, while some users cussed and insulted earthquake survivors, others responded by sending much-needed aid and financial assistance to the quake-hit zones.
CHP’s Çine District Mayor Enver Salih Dinçer’s wife, Tuba Gelincik Dinçer, also targeted earthquake survivors. “Our earthquake survivors have forgotten about their dead loved ones and embraced living in tents ... What can I say? Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has saved the wrong nation,” she said on Twitter. Other messages posted by CHP supporters included profanities, cursing, insults and threats against earthquake survivors, saying that they would never bother sending aid or financial assistance to them.
Infuriated by the blatant hatred and insults, actor Sinan Taymin Albayrak posted a video on Instagram, slamming those behind such messages. “These comments make me really nauseous,” Albayrak said, adding that such statements are divisive and entirely against democracy. “Please, for God’s sake, let your wisdom, logic and heart step in, regardless of your political views or whoever you want to win the elections,” he said.
Erdoğan said on Twitter that “ugly campaigns” on social media hurt earthquake victims very much, just like the “entire Türkiye, regardless of the party they supported, is disturbed by these.”
“Do not be alarmed or despair in the face of this evil. We must raise the common conscience of humanity, our nation. In solidarity with the nation, the state will heal people’s wounds. We will not leave our brothers and sisters alone in the earthquake zone and will continue standing with them,” he tweeted.
