He even blamed the opposition for the earthquake's bill!...

Erdoğan issued such a beautiful commemorative message on the first anniversary of the February 6 earthquake. After emphasizing that such great disasters and pains are also turning points where the strength of nations' unity, togetherness, and brotherhood is tested, he said;

“While our state took action immediately with all its resources, Turkey became one heart and one fist; our nation rushed to the side of their earthquake-stricken brothers and sisters, and the unity of the century was demonstrated in the face of the disaster of the century.”

“One heart, one fist”, “the unity of the century”, is that so?

Let's look at the media headlines one day before the anniversary of the earthquake.

The pro-government media gave messages that the earthquake region had been brought back to its feet with headlines such as; “We healed our wounds together”, “We achieved the impossible”, “The day that changed Turkey”, “We are rising with solidarity”, “We have risen”.

In the limited number of other media outlets, there were findings such as; “1 year has passed, the pain has not subsided, the rubble has not been cleared”, “The wounds have not been healed”, “The rubble has still not been lifted from the nation”.

What kind of unity and togetherness is this that we cannot even agree on the current state of the earthquake region.

Which one is the truth; of course, we all know.

But they still want us to believe what the government and its media tell us, and for us to deceive ourselves just as they deceive themselves and the nation.

Because their only concern is; to win again at any cost, to win even more!..

Because It Gets Results

That is why, three days before the anniversary, while introducing his mayoral candidates in Hatay—which experienced not just an earthquake but practically the apocalypse—he was able to say the following, calling it the “truth”:

“If the central government and local government do not join hands, if they are not in solidarity, nothing will come to that city. Did it come to Hatay? Currently, Hatay has been left strange, Hatay has been left sorrowful, and unfortunately, the current local government in Hatay has become 'Ba'de harab'ül Basra' (too little, too late) after this earthquake event. Where is the mayor? Gone. Now, I believe that on the evening of March 31, we will bring Hatay back to its feet with my brother Mehmet Öntürk and his team. For a long time, Hatay has been wasted in the hands of the CHP mentality, which produces talk instead of work and action. Hopefully, with your strong support, we will open the doors to a new era in Hatay on March 31. By joining hands and hearts, we will end Hatay's longing for a politics of service and works in 56 days. Just like in other provinces of our country that are pointed to as examples in municipalism, we will ensure that Hatay is managed by mayors who will be by its side at every moment.”

Everyone was surprised, and comments were made asking, “Did he speak extemporaneously?” However, those statements were published exactly as they were on the websites of both the AK Party and the Presidential Directorate of Communications. It was clearly a deliberate threat.

But why and how?

Because they saw that they got results from this language... Didn't they threaten with foreign powers, terrorism, or economic crises in previous elections as well?

Both Guilty and Powerful

Erdoğan told another thing in Hatay. Moreover, what he emphasized both at the candidate introduction meeting and at the hospital opening ceremony was this:

“The shameful scenes experienced during the May 14-28 election process have left deep marks in the memory of our people. It is clear that the heartache of our earthquake-stricken brothers and sisters, who were subjected to mind-boggling insults solely because of their voting preferences, will not heal overnight.”

“We are not among those who discriminate against our earthquake-stricken brothers and sisters according to their voting preferences, or who deem them worthy of service and respect according to the color of their vote. We are certainly not among the heartless who kick earthquake victims out of the guesthouses where they stay just because the result they wanted did not come out of the ballot box, or who throw the 3 cents of aid they provided in our people's faces.”

Although Erdoğan said, “Similar examples can be multiplied,” the only things he kept harping on were two incidents that occurred in Tekirdağ during the May 14-28 elections.

The first was the Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality asking earthquake victims placed in hotels in Kumbağ to leave those hotels. The pro-government media raised hell and claimed that the CHP-run municipality was making the earthquake victims pay the bill for the election result...

Ministers reacted one after another... The Ministry of Interior launched an investigation into the municipality.

The second was the allegation that two people, one of whom was a woman, who went to the hotel where the earthquake victims were staying one day after the May 18 election, made insults full of profanity towards Erdoğan and the citizens staying at the hotel. It turned out that two of these people, who were detained upon a report, were intoxicated. Afterwards, they were arrested for the crimes of “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” and “insulting the President”.

In short; two unpleasant, but isolated incidents.

But since that day, it has stuck to the CHP. And as seen recently in Hatay, Erdoğan has brought them up at every opportunity.

While the epicenter and magnitude of the earthquake were known years in advance, the “heart of disaster management” stopped on February 6...

The military was not allowed to intervene for days...

Communication was slowed down for hours...

An apology was requested because Adıyaman could not be reached for “a few” days...

The earthquake, which came in plain sight, was called a “destiny plan”...

The Turkish Armed Forces, whose health services were once pointed to as an example, became dependent on foreigners to set up a mobile hospital...

The Red Crescent sold tents...

More than half of the money collected in the aid campaign was embezzled...

Even today, we don't know how many of our people we lost...

And even though 1 year has passed, a very large portion of the promises made to the earthquake victims have not been kept...

What a pity!..

The greater fault is yours, my opposition brother...

If you do not, or cannot, hold them accountable for these, you will end up being the one held accountable, blamed, and complained about to the nation!..