FLASH
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Additionally, the AK Party and its right-wing ally, the Nationalist Action Party, voted against a parliamentary motion calling for an investigation into the missing children and announced that they would be officially declared dead.
A year after the deadly earthquake in Turkey, hundreds of children are still missing. Their families said they were rescued from the rubble and taken to nearby hospitals, but have since disappeared.
A Turkish NGO, the Children and Women First Association, which was set up to provide legal and psychological support to women and children, said it had received complaints from families that their children fell prey to organ traffickers and religious fraternities, such as orders Menzil and Ismailağa after being rescued.
These brotherhoods have flourished under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and are often in the news for cases of forced child marriage, child abuse, indoctrination and domestic violence.
Government officials deny the families' claims, but social media posts by Menzil leaders showing hundreds of children staying in their apartments prove a human trafficking ring exists.
In one of the many cases of child abduction following the earthquake, a five-year-old girl, who said her parents were injured in the disaster, was found wandering the streets of Maastricht by local police.
Additionally, the AK Party and its right-wing ally, the Nationalist Action Party, voted against a parliamentary motion calling for an investigation into the missing children and announced that they would be officially declared dead.
A year after the destruction, these families are still searching for them. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands more in the area are struggling to rebuild their lives.
More than 3 million people were displaced by the earthquake. Hundreds of thousands of them still live in container houses or tents in difficult conditions. And thousands of others were not even given a tent, leaving them to rely on friends or relatives.
After the earthquake, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had vowed to rebuild the houses that were destroyed within a year. And ahead of the critical May 2023 election - which he won - construction was proceeding apace. However, since then, work has slowed, leaving many families in limbo.
Jobs are scarce; meeting daily needs, such as paying for food, rent and other needs, is a big challenge; and as the country continues to struggle with inflation, many are falling deeper into debt.
Seeing the city turned into ruins, losing family members or not finding their bodies - these tragedies are simply impossible to recover from. And worst of all, those responsible for the tragedy have not paid a price.
Hatay was one of the hardest hit cities. Of the nearly 2,000 buildings that collapsed there, half of them did not have the necessary building permits. And to quell public anger, cases were brought against private contractors and building inspectors - but they are not the ones primarily responsible for the disaster.
In Turkey, public officials play a key role in construction projects. Elected mayors and those working for the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change are responsible for issuing building permits, inspections for compliance with existing laws and approval of the safety of residential buildings.
But even more than them, most responsible for the massive scale of death and destruction is the man who has ruled the country for more than two decades.
Erdogan enriched a small circle of close allies in the construction sector by awarding them infrastructure projects without competitive bidding or proper regulatory oversight. And these companies built homes and infrastructure in the epicenters without following proper building codes.
In Hatay, residential buildings, hospitals, the city's only airport and even the local branch of the Turkish Presidency of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) – many of which were built by Erdogan's friends – were completely destroyed or suffered massive damage. . And yet, Erdogan was rewarded with victory at the ballot box.
One could be justified in being skeptical about the election results in earthquake-hit areas like Hatay, where tens of thousands died or were displaced. Immediately after the earthquake, Erdogan won a small majority in the city, and not a single public official or elected mayor in the earthquake zone has been prosecuted.
And now, a year later, even though 130,000 lives were lost and millions displaced, it is business as usual for both Erdogan and the main opposition parties. Busy campaigning for the upcoming municipal elections, just this week the president inaugurated a public hospital that had collapsed during the earthquake. But for a doctor who worked there before the disaster and has since worked in a makeshift facility, the building opened by Erdogan is not ready to function as a hospital.
The inauguration is intended to convey to the voters that Erdogan kept his promise to revitalize Hatayn. But for the victims of the earthquake, life is anything but normal.
But residents know some of the wounds this earthquake caused will never heal, especially in a country with such a long history of impunity for officials who played a role in their tragedy. /Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Politico "
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