the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes will be at the top of Türkiye’s political agenda ahead of the 2023 elections. On the campaign trail, voters will closely monitor each party’s vision for relief efforts, comparing the government’s proven crisis management skills with the opposition’s potential performance. Right now, the electorate can make that comparison.

It is necessary to uphold the sense of solidarity, which emerged among states after the earthquakes. Last but not least, one would hope that the humane way of thinking can triumph over the idea of interest and exploitation in international relations. This is a time to focus on moral values and solidarity – not realpolitik.

Natural disasters, wars, and economic collapse tend to seriously undermine social order and make it impossible to address even people’s most basic needs. During such periods, it becomes difficult for communities to feed themselves, find shelter, receive medical attention, relocate, and communicate with others. Individuals and communities have provided emergency assistance to such individuals, without expecting anything in return, to address basic needs like food, shelter, and medical treatment throughout history.

There is no doubt that the Turkish Red Crescent remains a prioritized civilian entity due to its historical origins, institutional past, and capacity, but it cannot represent the entire civilian domain by itself in this day and age. As such, a mechanism for disaster management should be put in place that ensures the readiness of all official and civilian resources and the effective use of those resources for a rapid response.

In the wake of the great disaster that Türkiye has experienced, we are trying to heal each other’s wounds, mitigate each other’s suffering and rush to each other’s aid as a nation. We are compelled to highlight the economic impact of what happened in the devastation’s immediate aftermath while our memories and pain are still fresh. It is necessary to state and acknowledge that any attempt to restore and improve the “living standards” of Turkish citizens must rest on this assessment within the framework of the basic idea that the economy is supposed to serve the people. Universally speaking, economics is the science of allocating scarce resources optimally and we need its accumulated experience and principles more than ever amid crises.

The battle of polls rages on with the Turkish elections less than 60 days away. Pro-opposition pollsters have been projecting a landslide victory for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the prominent opposition leader, as surveys on opposition-dominated social media platforms serve as an echo chamber.

The meetings held by the Turkish delegation during their visit to Washington earlier this week once again showed how necessary constant dialogue is due to the busy agenda of Turkish-American relations. Apart from bilateral issues, Türkiye and the United States need to step up their efforts in order to work together on regional and global issues. It is no secret that there are issues where the two NATO allies do not agree or, worse yet, pursue opposing policies. However, many challenges such as hot war, food crisis, energy, great power rivalry and climate change make it all the more necessary to focus on shared interests.

Türkiye’s pro-opposition circles have launched an excessive public perception campaign for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairperson and presidential candidate. The conservative parties that are part of the “table for six,” the opposition bloc that nominated Kılıçdaroğlu, and pro-CHP media personalities and authors lead that effort. Specifically, they refer to the prominent opposition leader as a mujtahid and draw parallels between him and Mahatma Gandhi to support his claim of being calm, collected, compromising, democratic and inclusive. Their praise for Kılıçdaroğlu comes with accusations against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – whom they see as the complete opposite.