© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
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The small tent has a sofa, beds, TV, stove, soft carpets, modest decoration on its walls. It’s relatively warm in there, but that’s partly because the temperatures outside are unusually high for January. A separate room a few meters away is a kitchen, a third – a toilet.
Not far from the tent, in Adyaman on the outskirts of Adyaman in southeastern Turkey, a cluster of newly constructed buildings is rising, all bearing the logo of TOKİ, the state housing agency. Djemalettin, Mesut and their family have already received an offer to move to one of them – or perhaps to another block erected following the devastating earthquake that left more than 60,000 dead in two countries, ruined cities and infrastructure.
Why does the family refuse two apartments? The answer may lie in the fact that none of the items in the tent are his. It owns only the ground under its feet, the floor, and the other remains of the house on which the tent is pitched. And he won’t leave her for anything in the world.
Over 3.3 million people in Turkey are still homeless following the earthquake, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The UN believes that construction must be accelerated; experts warn that even now, while lagging behind its goals of building several hundred thousand homes a year, Ankara is prioritizing speed over quality.
A year following the earthquake, not everyone will be able to afford the new apartments. “Dnevnik”, together with four other European media, met with the family of Djemalettin and Mesut as part of a trip organized by the Directorate of the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).
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The three-province tour focused primarily on relief efforts for the thousands for whom the quake and the future hold even more unknowns – Syrians who have fled their homeland because of the war. She also showed that just as many Syrians often refuse to leave the tents and go to the container cities in order not to be isolated, so many Turks fear that they will be cheated if they leave the only thing they “own”.
Recovery is slow
On February 6, 2023, a wall of the building collapsed on the feet of 58-year-old Zeliha; both are broken. After she, her son Mesut (38) and her husband Djemalettin (63) and others in the family remained for hours under the rubble, the second tremor dislodged the walls; the fence surrounding the garden collapses and everyone escapes through a ten-meter gap.
© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
The family of Djelalettin, Mesut and Zeliha
They don’t have a car, they are being moved from hospital to hospital, from Şanlıurfa to Adana. When she was discharged, Zeliha had to recuperate for months on the floor of the tent. Nothing can be taken from the ruins before the building is pulled down; neighbors give a few items such as a TV, non-governmental organizations – blankets.
It is not known how many people live in concrete in tents in front of their houses or even in the yard of institutions. It is known that more than 4 million homes were affected, 680 thousand were destroyed. A total of 230 thousand buildings were declared “unusable”. The decision whether and when to destroy the damaged ones is made on the basis of an assessment of the degree of danger. In many cases, disputes with the land owners also delay the process.
Of the people left without a home, according to data from Turkish state authorities and non-governmental organizations:
- 1.5 million receive support to pay rent;
- 700 thousand people are in 400 container cities;
- 88 thousand families live in “informal camps” (families in this part of Turkey often include several generations with many children).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had vowed to restore 319,000 homes by February 2024 (the number is many times smaller; he hopes 75,000 will be handed over by the end of March, 200,000 by the end of the year). Days before the anniversary, 7,000 homes in Hatay were distributed – with draw – and for them, the victims will receive a grant and an interest-free loan. Erdogan personally gave them the keys in a ceremony.
© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
These buildings can be seen meters from Mesut’s tent – set up where the family’s home used to be.
On February 6, Environment and Urbanization Minister Mehmet Özhaseki angered many by saying that earthquake victims were “grateful” that their homes had collapsed because they found the ones built by TOKİ to be much better and with “much higher standard”.
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Even at this rate, researchers Fatma Özdoğan and Gonzalo Lisaralde of the University of Montreal believe Turkish authorities are missing out on opportunities to change systemic problems and improve infrastructure.
207 hectares of land were expropriated in Hatay province alone (50 thousand people lived in these areas), and it is expected that this will happen in other areas as well, for urbanization projects. The strategy is to facilitate the development of new urban construction in the outskirts and isolated areas. These homes are available with interest-free loans only to owners of moderately or severely damaged homes. The number of people who can apply becomes limited.
Many fear they won’t be able to afford to live in their own neighborhood. The solution for others will be social housing, such as can already be seen on the hills around Adyaman, even if one stands on the tiles of Mesut’s ruined house.
© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
This affects owners, tenants, landlords.
In Nurdaa, a 30-minute drive from Gaziantep, Ali’s family from Syria had to leave the house they were renting on the first floor, which was badly damaged by the quake. They live on the street for months; the Turkish state subsequently banned tents from being pitched on the street. The authorities assure that the house will be restored; the landlords let them move into the yard, next to the same two-story building they were renting. UNICEF is also urging them to return; a school was found nearby.
“We don’t know exactly when it will be fixed,” Ali says. “Now we’re going to get something if we need it. We came back because ASAM told us there’s a school nearby and we can enroll the children.” ASAM is the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants, a UNICEF partner.
© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
Ali’s family
It is not known how the family will be able to afford this first floor; rents have more than doubled since the quake. Ali is only finding “piecemeal” work following severe pain and a hernia make him unfit for the construction sector, where he has worked since arriving in Turkey in 2013 (Turkish employers are known to have worked as much as two Turks for Turkish employers before the earthquake ).
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Repayment of the future loan, even if it is interest-free, will not be within the means of Mesut’s family. Separated years ago from his wife and taking care of the children with his parents, he no longer works as a store manager in Adhyaman. An oncological disease, for which he cannot pay for the operation, turns his grandmother, Gemalettin, into the only worker in the family; at the same time – in the gray construction sector.
Relatives outside the household work in institutions. Therefore, according to the broad criteria of the Turkish state, Mesut, Cemaletin, Zeliha and the children cannot receive even a monthly allowance. They rely only on a card with known funds from the Turkish Red Crescent, which they will be able to use for another four months, in the conditions of breakneck (still 64% on an annual basis according to data from Monday) inflation. Other help from the state the family claims they have not seen.
© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
“The neighborhood knows Djemalettin,” explains Mesut, sitting next to Zeliha in the tent, when asked why the family didn’t move into a shipping container – an option available at no cost, along with access to basic services (even though the containers are falling apart and their roofs often don’t last under heavy rains). “He can still find work here.”
There are other reasons too. If the family leaves, they cannot prove that the land belongs to them – under the collected ruins, the debris, the documents are irretrievably lost.
They are fighting a legal battle for the land with the authorities, without being able to afford legal help: they have been offered two apartments in newly built buildings, but in exchange for giving up their current land and paying an additional amount that they cannot afford. “We love our country, we are proud to live here as Turks, but you see the situation,” says Mesut. “We don’t wish anyone in your countries to go through this. And we don’t want them to forget us.”
It’s been a year, but it’s like the same day for us. Every day we remember the same trauma. We lost everything: funds, home, friends, relatives. We hope that our government will do the best for us. But we understand that it cannot be enough because many people are affected.
Mesut,
affected by the earthquake
At the local level there are initiatives that show the opposite example: together with the non-governmental sector, municipalities develop sustainable homes for those affected, but they reach few and do not change the attitude of the state.
“I wish we had a normal house,” says Zeliha. “I wonder if we’ll ever have decorative items like we used to.”
© Diego Cupolo, © European Union, 2024
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