Analyzing Turkish Government’s Racism towards Earthquake Victims
WMST1195 Current Event Analysis
Fulya Yavuz
100384128
Word count: 1,100

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In times of natural disasters, the response of governmental institutions can often serve as a
reflection of their values and priorities. In January 2024, the Turkish Grand National Assembly
declined the proposition to extend the search and investigations for the missing children of the
2023 Earthquake. When the one-year mark of the earthquake passed, all missing individuals from
the earthquake were declared dead, and this proposition was intended to delay that process. There
are many reasons why the Turkish Grand National Assembly declined this proposition. These
earthquake areas are highly populated with people from Kurdish ethnicity, they are less resourced,
more rural areas, and the proposition is made by the opposition party; these are some factors that
affected the decision. This paper aims to critically examine the circumstances surrounding this
decision, its political nature, analyze its racial motivations, and explore the similarities between
the institutional racism towards Kurdish people in Turkey and the institutional racism towards
racialized and indigenous communities in North America.
Turkey is home to many different ethnicities and cultures due to its complicated and long
history. Many different ethnic and religious backgrounds live under the same roof, but there are
certain areas where some ethnicities are historically more populous, and the February 2023
earthquake area is one of them. The earthquake zone, as well as the eastern side of Turkey, is
highly populated with people of Kurdish ethnicity. Throughout the years, Kurdish people have
faced difficulties, discrimination, and institutional racism. For example, Kurdish people still, to
this day, are oppressed and restricted from using their own language, Kurdish, without stigma. The
eastern part of Turkey, especially the high-Kurdish populated areas, are more rural and less
resourced. During my travels to the eastern parts of Turkey, I have observed that the local
communities lack access to hygiene (schools were so underfunded that hygiene products were
inaccessible), clean water, education, and experience poverty and child labor. But why does the

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eastern part of Turkey face these difficulties when the western parts don’t share similar concerns?
I believe the answer to that is institutional racism.
The problems experienced in eastern Turkey are very intertwined and interrelated. When
one takes an intersectional approach to the issue, it can be seen that by keeping rural areas
underfunded and underdeveloped, education, health, socioeconomic status, employment, and class
are affected, contributing to the already existing racial stigma towards Kurdish people. Although
this is the reality of Turkey, it’s hard to find people who see the reality as it is. I believe this shared
experience is evident among racialized people in North America and Kurdish people in Turkey.
Many white Americans find it difficult to acknowledge the challenges faced by Black Americans,
as doing so would force them to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves and their country
(Baldwin, 1985, as quoted in Sholock, 2012, p.709-710). This lack of recognition hinders the
acceptance of responsibility, reconciliation for the hardships caused, and the dismantling of
colonization and racism. Similarly, to the racial oppression in North America, Kurdish people face
similar struggles, and the difficulty of the non-Kurdish population to acknowledge their challenges
could perhaps be caused by not wanting to confront the uncomfortable truth that the Turkish
government, as well as most of the population, is, in fact, racist.
When the February 2023 earthquake happened in southeastern Turkey, there was a clear
lack of help and aid from the government. Nearly all of the aid sent to the earthquake zone was
from private parties and voluntary aid from donations and non-profits. The aid organizations that
were supposed to help the civilians, sold tents to other non profits who donated them to earthquake
survivors (euronews, 2023). Considering that the government has a specific tax for earthquakes
which equates to approximately ninety billion Turkish liras (Saç, 2023) as well as a special
institution for earthquake aid, AFAD, this was clearly an intentional decision that showed a lack

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of care for people affected, as if their lives are disposable. There were many deaths and damages
in the earthquake zone, and they were caused by the corruption of the government. In sake of
profit, the government and institutions gave construction permits to unsafe work plans and
authorized the sales of unsafe housing, which ended up collapsing during the earthquake and took
many lives (Ünker, 2023). All of these factors together are a big motivation for the government
to cover up all wrongdoings, try to silence the conversation around the earthquake, and decline
any extensions for searches and investigations regarding the earthquake. This constant institutional
racism toward Kurdish people seems familiar with the experiences of Indigenous communities. In
Canada, Indigenous communities suffer the greatest consequences from land exploitation, higher
rates of poverty and homelessness, are disproportionately affected by cases of missing and
murdered women and bear the brunt of repressive policing and prosecutions within the criminal
justice system (Walia, 2012, p.2). Instead of being seen as just one problem among many,
Indigenous self-determination is connected to fighting racism, poverty, police violence, war,
violence against women, and environmental issues (Walia, 2012, p.2). This connects to the
experiences of Kurdish people because their struggle is also linked to broader concepts that require
an intersectional approach.
Storytelling can counteract efforts to silence and erase memory, which are part of the
structures of power that oppress and destroy identities and communities (Boudreau Morris, 2017,
p.461). It connects communities to their land and can help restore dignity by allowing people to
speak for themselves, resisting colonialism in the process (Boudreau Morris, 2017, p.463).
Remembering can be an act of resistance because the colonial state tries to erase memory and
Indigenous knowledge (Salazar as quoted in Boudreau Morris, 2017, p.464). In the face of
institutional racism, the response of Kurdish people and people who stand in solidarity with them

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was similar to Indigenous communities. They have resorted to storytelling and sharing their stories
to enlighten what really happened in the earthquake zone, and many people got informed that way
since the government also made attempts to block communication with the area to avoid their
institutional racism from getting attention. I believe this is another reason for them to decline the
proposition for the extension of search and investigation because they don’t want any attention
drawn to themselves; they want to cover it up as soon as they can and make people forget what
happened.
When comparing Turkey's refusal to extend the search timeline for earthquake victims with
Canada's treatment of Indigenous communities, the decision not to search for the bodies of
Indigenous women in landfills stands out as a stark example. This refusal to pursue the missing
three Indigenous women in Manitoba's landfills underscores the ongoing impact of colonization
and the persistent erasure of Indigenous peoples in modern-day Canada. While authorities the
police to be unequipped for such a search as the reason for refusal (Taylor, 2023), this explanation
appears more like an excuse than a genuine limitation. The fact that law enforcement may not be
adequately trained to handle such cases raises serious concerns about the safety and well-being of
individuals entrusted to their care by society. How are people going to trust the officers who are
working to keep them safe, if they don’t even bother to search the landfills to solve cases? The
lack of care of Canadian government towards Indigenous communities resemble the attitudes of
the Turkish government regarding the earthquake victims, most of whom are from Kurdish
descent. Both cases seem to have racial motivations and institutional racism.
In conclusion, the Turkish Grand National Assembly has declined the proposition for
extending the search and investigations about the 2023 February earthquake for several reasons.
Institutional racism, discrimination against Kurdish people, and governmental corruption are

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some explanations for the decision. The struggle of Kurdish people seems familiar with the
struggle of racialized and indigenous peoples in North America due to their shared experiences
of institutional racism, attempts toward silencing their voices, and constant discrimination
resulting in several systems of oppression affecting the community.

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