For the past week, we have been living with the overwhelming destruction, humanitarian crisis, and anxiety for the future that has followed an earthquake that has rendered ten of Turkey’s provinces unrecognizable…

Rescuing those left under the rubble, healing the wounded, coordinating the aid, providing homes for those who have been rescued, saving children from living in this hell – these are all the primary items of the agenda; however, as all this is ongoing, politics does not rest. It cannot, because to a significant extent, politics is the one to blame for this catastrophe.

In the speech President Erdogan gave on February 7 at Bastepe when he announced the State of Emergency wearing a facial expression that we have been unable to forget since, he said, “We are closely watching those who spread fake news or try to set our people against one another through manipulations. Today is not the day for arguing, but when that day comes, we will open the notebooks we have been using.”

There is no ambiguity about to whom these words are addressed. Erdogan spoke directly to those opposing him, and especially to journalists who wished to share the truth. However, Erdogan did not reveal who it is that is keeping these notes. It could be the prosecutors, or maybe even the Minister of the Interior. My guess is that it is the Communications Directorate.

True, it is not the day for arguing, but Erdogan is not the only one keeping notes; so are others, and our notes are rather lengthy. I do not know if the day will come that the notes kept by others come to light, but there are notes in my book and in the books of those like myself:

The fact that earthquake regulations have not been followed for years, that not much has been done to enforce the legislation on constructing earthquake-resilient buildings…

How were the earthquake taxes the state has collected for years used, who pocketed the remaining money…

Construction amnesties… The fact that government construction tenders always go to the same few companies…

The fact that those who righteously criticize government leaders are disparaged and called “a bunch of dishonorables, deplorables, ignobles.”

That a government purportedly planning to go to outer space was unable to go to the earthquake region or to Hatay for days…

The fact that the budget allocated for the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) in 2023 was 8.1 billion Lira, while that allocated for the Department of Religious Affairs was 36 billion lira…

The fact that AFAD’s budget was cut by 33.6 percent in comparison to the last year, while the Department of Religious Affairs’ budget increased by 56.6 percent in comparison to the last year…

The fact that no one asked about or inquired after the non-Justice and Development Party municipalities in the first few days following the quake…

The fact that people characterized as useless or who were underestimated for being youtubers, social media personalities, or influencers achieved more than a government of 20 years.

The fact that your government convoys obstructed traffic for hours when visiting the disaster areas in which your efforts were insufficient and in which you were unable to coordinate your work…

That you dared to claim, “This is God’s plan in fate,” saying that to die was part of our destiny and thus that there is nothing you could have done…

That you would “slander God” if it means hiding the fault of the government…

The fact that a reporter from a pro-government channel turned away from a girl who had escaped the wreckage and was asking for help on live television as she explained that she could not reach her family…

The fact that we know that had she not turned away, she would have been fired from her job at the end of the workday…

There is the fact that as a citizen describes his troubled situation, crying, Nureddin Canikli and many other AKP party members display an attitude far removed from humanity, unable to hug even a single earthquake victim, unable to listen to their troubles, unable to cry with them…

The fact that the HDP-controlled Agri Province Patnos Municipality’s trucks carrying aid were confiscated by the governorship…

That some earthquake-hit regions remain beyond reach, that volunteers are working to rescue people under spotlights provided by news stations…

All this raises the question, why are there so many politicians, journalists, organizers imprisoned these days while mafia bosses have been released…

At a time when each second makes the difference between life or death, we have a government that blocks entirely or slows the bandwidth on Twitter, one of the communication channels that plays a considerable role in the efforts…

That people’s right to life and right to communication is so openly appropriated…

There is the fact that if durable buildings had been constructed, the loss of life would not have been so great….

There is the fact that a single man who tries to hold all the power the palm of his hand has completely destroyed institutions and has left no bureaucracy to speak of in the nation

There is AFAD, which is incapable of organizing itself and is despised…

There are civil society organizations whose activities are about to be halted yet whose fundraised amounts will soon be “aggrandized.”

There is the fact that as people are regarded as the enemy even as they are left to die in conditions of freezing cold, rain, and snow, as those who have escaped the wreckage are unable to find a bite of food, as they try to build solidarity by their own means …

There is the fact that had the local governments, whose importance was discounted out of fears that it would risk their unitarian structure, and the municipalities to whom trustees were appointed, remained in the hands of their true owners, more people would have been saved…

There is the fact that the civil society organizations which were slandered for being fund-stealing schemes and were shut down are still battling court proceedings…

There is the fact that you have no shame regarding the buildings whose constructions you approved, and which were crushed to smithereens in the earthquake, and yet you proclaim “Good tidings! We will be building cluster housing.”

There is the fact that when the Adiyaman Governor laughed at earthquake victims and drew the ire of many, your Metiner shamelessly said, “Would you prefer that he sobbed and wailed instead?”

There is the fact that your neighbors, whom you threatened with a sudden invasion one night, banded together in the spirit of solidarity to save those in the earthquake-hit area, whereas the former AKP deputy Nursel Kocabas Reyhanlioglu shouted at Imamoglu “Get out of here, you British lackey…”

There is the fact that we are left to think “how many more people have been saved, had the response been swift and correct,” as we read the news that people are still being pulled out of the wreckage alive though it has been over 100 hours since the earthquake hit…

There is the eight-year-old little girl who stood waiting by her mother so that the dogs would not eat her, there are the bodies buried without funeral shrouds, there are the people carrying the corpses of their relatives in their own cars…

There are the earthquake victim children that you used for a photo opportunity, all lined up in front of you during the statement you gave in the region…

There are the photographs that evidence how incapable you are of even showing a semblance of love to the children of your homeland, how incapable you are of embracing them…

There are many other things that I cannot bring myself to write, that I feel shame for, that anger me, that make me feel helpless…

The notes we have kept are quite weighty, quite crowded, quite lengthy.

These are the crimes, disgraces, and scandals of only the past five days.

Insult us to your heart’s content, we will continue to take note in our books…

*A long-time analyst on regional issues, Alin Ozinian holds a BA in International Relations and Diplomacy and an MA in Turkish Studies. She is currently a PhD researcher at YSU's Faculty of Political Science. Ozinian has worked at the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and has served as the Regional Coordinator of International Alert's Caucasus Development Network, based in London, and as a regional analyst for the Armenian Assembly of America, based in Washington DC. She served as press secretary for the Turkish-Armenian Business Council. In 2018, she received the Jampruk Research Award on migration issues, announced by the United Nations Association. Since 2021, Ozinian has been the executive director of the Arti Media.