Türkiye suffered a major disaster on 6 February. There were two major earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 in Kahramanmaraş, 9 hours apart. 13 days have passed since the earthquake disaster, which affected approximately 20 million people and caused great destruction in 11 provinces, mainly Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Adıyaman.
After the earthquake, relevant institutions and organizations took action immediately. Although there were some delays in the first hours due to the adverse weather conditions, destructions on some roads, and the earthquake's destruction in a very wide area, the rescue teams were caught on the debris in the second earthquake.
The state had taken action with all its institutions and agencies, but it is not possible for any state to fight alone in the face of such a great disaster. What is impossible for the world is difficult for our nation, but it is not impossible.
On the morning of February 6, such a state-nation fusion emerged that there is no destruction that this solidarity cannot overcome. Just like the night of July 15, our nation acted so organized that it would not have been possible to achieve such an organization if you had done it thousands of times before.
Our nation, which is one body and one heart, began to heal the wounds of the earthquake with its compassionate heart. Our big-hearted, crazy nation set out without despairing in the face of the debris formed by the huge buildings that collapsed to the ground, without fearing the horrific image of the disaster, without worrying about whether that "colossal destruction will be overcome".
Non-governmental organizations became the pioneers of our nation's mobilization. The NGOs, which someone made a list of and threatened to close, did not leave untouched places in the earthquake zone, or earthquake victims that they did not reach out to.
While some political looters sitting in their warm offices in Ankara and Istanbul in the first hours of the earthquake were calculating their political future from the disaster by rubbing their hands and saying, "Okay, this man can't win an election again", our nation had already mobilized and started to deliver aid to the region.
When the political looters went to the field and saw the fortitude and solidarity of the nation, they were shocked. While they were lamenting "Why don't the people revolt", they started to spoil their mouths. First, they made statements that underestimated the earthquake: “The earthquake was not very big. It was purposely made to look big.”
Then, outright lies and disinformation began. They spread lies to complicate their work. They tried to hinder the work of the work teams with false notices. Let alone helping the aid arrive, they took some aid home and tried to incite the nation to revolt by spreading the propaganda of "Aid is not coming".
Healing the wounds went so hard that they tried to generate tension and polarization over all kinds of differences. They sought to cause chaos by saying, "There is no aid given to such and such places because of their sect and because they are from different parties in such and such places."
They went so far that they even claimed that there was no association with Islamic sensitivities in the field. They continued to lie every hour as if they had a knack for planting lies in their lies.
They were so disturbed by the "One Heart Türkiye" campaign that if they could, they would drown the donors in a spoonful of water. “Sir, how can public banks help?” They are so accustomed to bankruptcy and the banks' declaration of public loss that they cannot fathom that profits are reserved for state-owned banks and some of those profits to heal the wounds caused by the earthquake.
Those who rubbed their hands in Gezi, on December 17-25, and July 15, during the Covid-19 pandemic and were drawn to the enthusiasm for power, got the same excitement after the earthquake disaster.
I have bad news for political looters. Thanks to the wave of compassion created by state-nation solidarity, we will overcome this disaster as well.
