For more than 20 years the Turkish government has been collecting taxes under the “earthquake funds.” Billions of dollars. However, despite collecting taxes for this kind of a natural disaster, as soon as the earthquake hit, the head of the Red Crescent sent out a tweet asking for contributions to help the survivors
Questions keep piling on where more than 10 billion dollars of earthquake tax collection went in Turkey. However, the Turkish government refuses to give any satisfactory answers.
On January 24, 2020, the town of Elazığ on the eastern side of Turkey was hit hard with an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale. The earthquake lasted 40 seconds and many buildings, including government built “modern”, low income, earthquake proof homes collapsed. More than 45 people lost their lives in the initial counts.
For more than 20 years the Turkish government has been collecting taxes under the “earthquake funds.” Billions of dollars.
In a country that sits right on top of many active and dangerous fault lines there is a need for funds and plans to prepare for the multiple “big ones.”
For this reason, the expectations were high after the Elazığ earthquake for the government to immediately step in to take care of the people who lost their homes.
However, despite collecting taxes for this kind of a natural disaster, as soon as the earthquake hit, the head of the Red Crescent sent out a tweet asking for contributions to help the survivors.
Questions started to bubble up after this tweet when everyone also noticed the government was dragging its feet and the help did not reach the survivors.
At first, the government ignored the inquiries and hoped they would go away. The AKP government and the president Erdoğan was wrong. Instead, the questions became stronger.
Without waiting for the AKP government to reach the survivors, many neighboring and even far away communities started filling trucks with food, blankets, tents and drinking water to send to the earthquake zone. This didn’t look good for the government. Those who were rushing help were small provincial governments held by the opposition.
Now, the AKP central government had to deal with not only the questions on the funds but also the challenge brought on by the competitors who were reaching those in need when the government was AWOL.
To save face, the government did what one would expect from the AKP government. It threatened the survivors against accepting “unauthorized help” from sources other than the government.
The governors were given strict orders to prevent any help from reaching the hungry people shivering under the below freezing degree weather. For example, the aid sent by the “communist mayor” in the neighboring province was turned down by the police and soldiers and turned away on its road to Elazığ. Later, a convoy of aid trucks from İzmir, a western city led by the opposition was also banned from reaching the earthquake zone.
With things getting out of hand, the government stopped waiting for the questions to slow. Pro-government pundits and officials started posting on social media that those who were questioning the whereabouts of the earthquake funds were bad intentioned and were stirring up trouble.
The government warned against those who were spreading “fake news” about the earthquake and the government. Those caught lying would be investigated, the officials reminded.
ATV and theater actor Tuna Arman wrote the obvious “Thousands of religious sect sheiks did not help as much as a single dog” she said referring to a dog that had waited by and alerted others to the rubble where her owner was buried. This did not go well in a country destined to Islamic rule under the AKP government. Pro-government wrath was set on her by the AKP supporters.
Erdoğan went to visit the town. However, as usual, he created more problems for himself and his image.
The president is known for his tough words like, “I fear nobody in this world but only Allah!” However, he is also known for going even to his casual Friday prayers with his hundreds of bodyguards, police, helicopters, snipers, armored vehicles and dozens of protection vehicles.
Once he flew to Elazığ, reports were published on the massive operation of SUVs, planes, armored vehicles and personnel that was sent after him from the west to the eastern earthquake stricken town for protection to accompany him on his way back to the local airport from the city. The funds spent was enormous.
The whole aid charade turned into an exclusive show with the president’s arrival. The local governor was caught on a live microphone before a public meeting with the minister of interior bragging on how, “the way we are conceived is positive” referring to the way pro-government TV stations and government allied news media had spun the disaster in favor for the government. The operation now was only an effort of theatrics.
This was further proved when the rescue crew were called back from their duty and had to leave the task of finding the injured or the dead and stand in line in attention like soldiers for Erdoğan’s arrival. This military style welcome party must have boosted Erdoğan’s ego, but it did no go well for those who expected rescue to take precedence over cheap government propaganda.
Just when things stooped to this low, other photographs emerged where the head of the agency in charge of the relief operation had asked an injured person who just had been rescued to be brought to the president in a stretcher for a photo-op. Instead of being taken to the hospital the patient was brought to Erdoğan’s side. The show was now in full swing.
There were also unverified reports that a woman (probably the same woman?) had been kept under the rubble long enough for Erdoğan to reach the rescue site to observe the successful saving operation.
With these scandals dogging the government more information started to surface about how the government’s Red Crescent had squandered away millions and maybe billions of dollars by renting luxury mansions on the most expensive hills with Boshoros views and swimming pools, rented uninhabitable, broken down buildings from pro-government ally businessman and spending fortunes to fix them, buying expensive SUVs and had giving exorbitant paychecks to high officials.
Then came more information that the funds had been used to take care of the jihadi terrorists in Syria that Turkey supports, arms, houses and heals if they are wounded in the war.
Money was also sent to Muslim countries that Turkey is trying to woo in its quest to become the neo-Ottoman empire.
But to top these all, a document was published showing the Red Crescent giving away 8 million dollars to a government related religious child care organization. The organization that received this gift, Ensar Fund, was the center of a horrible scandal when around 45 boys were reportedly raped by the school staff over a period of several years. Worse was the woman minister of family affairs, an AKP member, defending the event and the fund by saying, “It is not a big deal if it was done only once.”
This fund, very closely related to Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan that received funding from the Red Crescent has been investing in the USA to buy the late box champion Muhammed Ali’s home and estate for 2.5 million dollars. Ensar Fund has also established a fund in the US to collect money. From 2014 to 2017 this fund in the US collected 54 million 250 thousand dollars.
However, the charitable fund failed to report the collected amount in the last two years.
When pressed to show where the billions had been spent, some officials said the money was spent on building roads so that the aid could reach remote areas faster. This didn’t satisfy the inquirers. So, the president himself had to step in.
In a statement yesterday, Erdoğan tersely ended the entire debate: “The funds were spent where they should have been. We do not have any more time to entertain any more of these questions.”
Sendika.Org News (M.B.)
