POWER: The Turkish government has come under fire for the way it handled the crisis. What mistakes did it make? ALATON: The government made a blunder in calling off the rescue effort too soon, about eight days after the earthquake occurred. This resulted in great frustration among the rescuers, including the families of the victims, and increased the people’s mistrust of the government. Many people were probably alive under the rubble and could still be rescued. The excuse was that they needed to clear the rubble and the decaying bodies. But that’s just xenophobia–the minister of Health wanted to get rid of the foreigners. He went as far as refusing the help of rescue teams from Armenia, Greece, Israel and even the United States.
You’re in the construction business. Why has there been so much destruction? Our company, Alarko, has constructed hundreds of houses and factories in that particular area. I am proud to say that in these constructions that were built in the last four decades, not one single crack occurred. The simple reason is that we, like all serious contractors and builders in that area, applied the prevailing Turkish codes of construction, which allow for an earthquake that would be 9.2 on the Richter scale. The great loss of life is the result of unscrupulous small developers and builders setting up apartments in loose riverbeds and land reclaimed from the sea without laying the necessary foundations. Unfortunately, no technical control by the municipalities was applied, due to the collusion between unscrupulous builders and the local municipal bureaucracy.
There are estimates that the earthquake could cost Turkey $20 billion. Are you worried? The Turkish economy has been vibrantly developing in the past two decades. The stricken area is very much export-oriented, and will come to its feet in a relatively short time, depending on the return of the work force. The value of the destruction of the earthquake has been grossly exaggerated. In my opinion, it is much less than $10 billion.
Public frustration has swelled to the point where many Turks are saying there are basic flaws in the Turkish state. Do you agree? Over the last four decades, the state in Turkey has degenerated into a self-fulfilling machine that has no aim of serving the people. It merely exists for itself. The earthquake brought this into the open: the government was found naked, and the people shouted, “The king is naked.” The people suddenly realized that the omnipotent and caring state is in fact a paper tiger–one without much sympathy for the plight of the people. This was especially felt among the survivors of the quake, who found themselves in limbo with scant state authority or support. The media brought this message into the open. [But] the government, instead of defusing the crisis, took the extremely negative attitude of overreacting to this criticism.
What do you think will be the long-term political fallout from the earthquake? Essentially, the state is at a crossroads. It may continue to feel threatened and jealous towards nongovernmental organizations and try to hamper the expansion of their activities. This will further polarize the state and civil society, pushing the state to entrench itself further in a siege mentality. If on the other hand, by some miracle, the state changes drastically and remembers that a state is created by civil society in order to serve the society, then we may see the emergence of real democracy in Turkey, a state which is aware of its responsibility to serve the people instead of herding them.
Will this disaster present any opportunities for Turkey’s foreign policy?
