Last Wednesday, the already devastated provinces of Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman suffered roaring floods amidst heavy rainfall. These provinces have already been dealing with perhaps the most runious event that beset the nation in its modern history. 14 people lost their lives in the flood; among them a 1.5 year old, on the 38th day of the earthquake.
The rainfall had already taken hold of Şanlıurfa the previous night, causing repeated and seemingly endless power outages every 20 minutes or so. The entire city of Şanlıurfa would go dark, light up again and then return to pitch black. The following morning the roads in the city center were unpassable, with vehicles stuck and abandoned on the roads. Walking distance from the center, just in front of the Şanlıurfa Archeology Museum, lies Piazza mall. Just 20 days ago the courtyard of the museum was littered with tents that housed the survivors of the earthquakes. On Wednesday morning, the entire square was flooded, the waters engulfing cars, box trucks and leaving people stranded atop their vehicles and in the mall.
Moving on to one of the busiest roads in the city, the Abide intersection underpass, a piece of infrastructure President Erdoğan himself inaugurated, had filled up to the ceiling with floodwater and thick mud. Multiple vehicles were stuck in the underpass, causing 8 people to drown in their cars that day. Şanlıurfa, already a semi-ghost town due to the earthquakes, looked abandoned that morning as roads were closed to all but emergency services and the media.
Moving on to Adıyaman, the picture was no different. Adıyaman suffered some of the most severe damage and death from the earthquakes and was now having to deal with flooding to boot. Almost everyone who hasn’t left town currently either lives in a tent or is lucky enough to be placed in a dormitory or a container home. Luckily Adıyaman is built on top of a hill so while flooding wasn’t as severe as Şanlıurfa, it did ruin what little many people still had in their tents. Many were attempting to drain the floodwaters out of their tents all day as they did what little they could to dry their beds, blankets and clothes.
Around 5PM, word came down that the opposition presidential candidate and high-percentage-chance future leader of Turkey Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu would arrive in Şanlıurfa in less than two hours, calling for a speedy descent back to town. Though Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu’s itinerary was not yet determined at the time, many journalists had already bet on him arriving at the now infamous underpass where 8 souls perished.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu had already arrived at the scene to inspect the rescue operations as cranes fished vehicles out of the underpass. Minister Soylu was visibly perturbed during his inspection and clearly in a dreary mood as he lashed out at several journalists trying to record him on video, saying:
“What is your problem?! I think you have me confused with someone else!”
The cameramen were promptly detained by the police and taken away as Soylu left the scene.
Kılıçdaroğlu arrives
The gambit had paid off and media was already on the scene by the time Kılıçdaroğlu’s itinerary was confirmed. Kılıçdaroğlu arrived in regular fashion, accompanied by heavy security, bringing coalition partners, former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu of Future Party and former Interior Minister and head of İYİ party Meral Akşener, who just a week ago, momentarily resigned from the coalition.
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Kılıçdaroğlu was immediately surrounded by a wall of people as he looked over the railing down to the underpass that had claimed 8 lives earlier that day. As Kılıçdaroğlu finished his inspection, he walked towards a hill to begin his address. Kılıçdaroğlu gave a brief press statement in regards to the recent quakes and floods and assured the public that their administration would heal all wounds.
However, towards Kılıçdaroğlu’s address a group of young men, no more than 5 or 6 began to howl:
“We are in pain! This is no place for politics!..“Come here with HDP! Where is HDP?!”
The group then proceeded to loudly boo Kılıçdaroğlu.
HDP is Turkey’s Majority Kurdish party. Through it’s ethnic ties, HDP is commonly accused of supporting terrorist organizations such as PKK; which has been waging a bloody war against Turkey since the 80’s to attain an autonomous region in South Eastern Turkey. HDP and its current support of the opposition is cited as evidence of treason by the opposition’s detractors.
An immediate accusation came from Kılıçdaroğlu’s side, accusing the group of men of being paid actors. Later; Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu’s entourage alleged that the men were from local AKP’s youth arm – an allegation Medyascope was unable to confirm.
Supporters respond
The booing crowd was quickly pushed away by the wall of people surrounding Kılıçdaroğlu. The men quickly disappeared into the crowd. Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu seemed discouraged by calm. After the ordeal, the crowd began chanting “Government, resign!” as a counter to the alleged AKP supporters. The chants continued well after Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu took his leave for the evening and returned to the capital.
The chant “Government, resign!” has been an age old chant in Turkey. But it has made a comeback into the political arena only recently.
Last month, a stadium full of football spectators began chanting ““Government, resign!” as a response to the government’s mismanagement of the earthquake and disaster response efforts. This dissent did not go unnoticed by the government of course. Ruling coalition partner and MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli, immediately threatened the football clubs with consequences if the matter was not handled swifty. Consequently, The Turkish Football Federation released a memorandum weaving to stay out of politics. But Mr. Bahçeli’s efforts do not appear to have quelled the flames outside the field.
