Erdogan defends Turkey earthquake response after critics arrested

Twitter was shut down for 12 hours, adding to growing public anger over the government's response

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  The brother of a survivor Gokhan Ugurlu, 35, who was pulled out of the rubble in Hatay, Turkey, reacts as a rescuer looks on. Reuters

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  A woman walks past flattened buildings in a street in Hatay province, Turkey. Reuters

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  A member of the army stands amid rubble in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  A man reacts while sitting outside a tent of a temporary accommodation centre set up on a football pitch in Gaziantep, Turkey. Reuters

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  Earthquake survivors walk on a street in Hatay, Turkey. Reuters

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  A White Helmets volunteer holds a rescued cat in the rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  A Syrian boy, who lost his family in the deadly earthquake, stands amid the rubble of his family home in Jindayris. AFP

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  Rescuers sit by a bonfire in Hatay, Turkey. AFP

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  A Turkish soldier walks among destroyed buildings in Hatay. AFP

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  Relatives of Palestinian doctor Yusuf Darabeh, who died when the earthquake hit Turkey, comfort each other. AP Photo

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  People stand by a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. AP Photo

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  A child, injured in the earthquake, is treated at hospital in Bab Al Hawah, Syria. AP Photo

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  Vehicles containing aid from Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) on the Iraqi side of the Iraq-Syria border. Reuters

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  Rescuers carry Muhammed Alkanaas, 12, to an ambulance after five days under the rubble in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  Romanian firefighters load a Turkey-bound train with emergency aid near Bucharest. AP

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  Collapsed buildings in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  Abdulkerim Nano, 67, is rescued after five days under the rubble in in Kahramanmaras, Turkey

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  A Turkish rescue worker checks a collapsed building in Adiyaman. AP

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  Rescuers in Adiyaman, Turkey. AP

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  A resident in front of his collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP

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  Syrian refugees shelter in a public market in the Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Turkey. AP

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  A family wait for the bodies of their relatives to be recovered in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  A woman plays with a sniffer dog in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  Collapsed buildings in Antakya, Turkey. AP

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  A Syrian woman takes care of her nephew Hasan Goayid, eight, in Islahiye district, Gaziantep. AP

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  A Syrian child in a tent in the Islahiye district. AP

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  Collapsed buildings in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras. AFP

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  Emirati rescuers sift through the rubble of a collapsed building in the regime-controlled town of Jableh, northwest of the Syrian capital. AFP

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  Volunteers at the Emirates Red Crescent 'Bridges of Goodness' campaign at the South Hall, Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City. Leslie Pableo for The National

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  Martin Griffiths, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, in Maras, Turkey. Reuters

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  Rescuers give water to a dog after a rescue operation in Hatay, southern Turkey. AP

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  A deadly earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6. EPA

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  Fissures from the earthquake have crumpled the highway near Islahiyeh in Southern Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National

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  A Kurdish charity's aid convoy enters Syria through the Bab Al Salama crossing with Turkey, in the northern province of Aleppo. AFP

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  A rescuer with a sniffer dog searches in a destroyed building in Antakya, southern Turkey. AFP

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  A makeshift camp erected in a stadium in the city of Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. EPA

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  A woman mourns Turkish Cypriot victims of the earthquake, during a funeral procession in the Turkish occupied area in north-east coastal city of Famagusta, Cyprus. AP

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  Rescuers carry survivor Rabia Ofkeli, 27, from the rubble in Hatay, southern Turkey. Reuters

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  Syrian President Bashar Al Assad visits Aleppo university hospital. Reuters

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  Members of the Swiss rescue team with a four-month-old girl, Abir, who was pulled out from the rubble in Antakya. AFP

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  Survivors at a hospital in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  Members of the White Helmets during the fifth day of rescue operations in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  Indonesian Muslims perform a prayer for the victims at Istiqlal grand mosque in Jakarta. EPA

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  Emergency personnel conduct a rescue operation to save Melda, 16, from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, southern Turkey. AFP

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  The earthquake caused a railbed overpass to collapse in Nurdagi, Turkey. AFP

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  A framed picture on the cracked wall of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, south-eastern Turkey. EPA

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  A coastal area of Iskenderun, Turkey, was flooded after the quake. Reuters

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  A sheet of paper lies among the rubble in Elbistan. AP

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  Relief supplies destined for earthquake survivors in Turkey, at a warehouse in Schoenefeld, near Berlin, Germany. AP

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  Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, three days after the earthquake struck. AFP

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  Rescuers with a child pulled out from under the rubble. Reuters

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  Rescuers rest on top of rubble as an aircraft drops water over a fire at the port in the quake-stricken town of Iskenderun. Reuters

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  A rescue worker in Kahramanmaras, three days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck south-east Turkey. AFP

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  People try to pull out a dog trapped beneath the rubble in Iskenderun, Turkey. Reuters

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  Lorries carrying humanitarian aid wait at Bab Al Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border. Reuters

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  Syrians warm up by a fire outside a makeshift tent near the rebel-held town of Jindayris in Syria. AFP

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  A dam on the Orontes river in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province collapsed after the quake, flooding the neighbourhood. AFP

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  The sails of the Sydney Opera House lit with a black ribbon in remembrance and mourning of the earthquake victims. Getty

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  Smoke billows amid an expanse of collapsed and damaged buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Reuters

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  Dogs of the German International Search and Rescue team rest between operations in Kirikhan, Turkey. Reuters

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  White Helmets volunteers rescue a child trapped beneath the rubble in Jandaris, Syria. Reuters

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  People gather to collect food and humanitarian aid in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, south-east Turkey. EPA

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  The statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, is surrounded by damaged buildings in Adiyaman province. AP

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  A plane carrying humanitarian air sent for earthquake survivors lands in Damascus. Mahmoud Rida / The National

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  Motorway fractured by earthquake causes car crash near Kahramanmaras, Turkey. Matt Kynaston / The National

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  A tent camp has been set up at a stadium in south-eastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras to shelter families whose homes were destroyed in the quake. AFP

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  A displaced Syrian woman rests under a tree in a field on the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Jindayris. AFP

Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing growing criticism from the public and rival politicians after Twitter was allegedly blocked for 12 hours in earthquake-hit southern Turkey on Wednesday amid anger over the government's response to the disaster.

Turkish media reported that deputy minister of transportation Omer Fatih Sayan had warned the platform over the spread of "disinformation," a genuine concern after false reports of tsunamis and the risks to Turkey’s nuclear reactors spread on the platform.

But the Twitter outtage — reported by online activist group Netblocks — also fuelled anger about the government’s slow response to Monday's earthquake.

Many survivors said the government had been completely absent from some badly affected areas, leaving them without provisions, shelter or professional help to save people still buried under rubble in freezing conditions.

In a period like this, I cannot stomach people conducting negative campaigns for political interest

Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Turkish President

Opposition political parties and rescuers said the absence of Twitter made the situation worse, hampering rescue attempts as people used it to co-ordinate assistance across vast areas where road networks have been badly damaged.

They said the temporary loss of the social media service was simply an attempt by Mr Erdogan to stem criticism of the government.

In one camp visited by The National in Gaziantep, a city near the epicentre, people deplored the lack of emergency response.

One man standing by his house, which was badly damaged, said that he could not re-enter the unsafe building but that “no one gave us any tents, we only received some food and that’s all”.

“Where is the bread they promised us?" said Amina Ahmad, 50.

Her home was still standing but "we don’t have water and barely any electricity”, she said with exasperation.

Acknowledging problems with the response, Mr Erdogan, who declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces and sent troops to help, visited Kahramanmaras on Wednesday to view the damage and see the rescue and relief effort.

His response to the disaster could prove critical in a key national election planned for May but almost certain to be delayed.

Speaking to reporters, he said there had been problems with roads and airports but “we are better today”.

“We will be better tomorrow and later. We still have some issues with fuel … but we will overcome those too,” Mr Erdogan said.

But critics pointed to Mr Erdogan’s intolerance of criticism, which bears the hallmarks of some of his more extreme crackdowns on opposition.

“In a period like this, I cannot stomach people conducting negative campaigns for political interest,” he said.

Police have detained 18 people over “provocative” social media posts that criticised the government's response.

“Where is the state? Where have they been for two days? We are begging them. Let us do it, we can get them out,” Sabiha Alinak said on Wednesday near a snow-covered collapsed building in the city of Malatya, where her young relatives were trapped.

Tens of thousands of people are now fending for themselves.

In the centre of Gaziantep, The National saw a dozen families set up a camp of makeshift shelters in a garden.

“We put them up ourselves”, said Hassan, 59, a Syrian refugee from Palmyra, while cooking a traditional stew from his hometown to feed the displaced families in the camp.

He is staying in a makeshift shelter with his wife and three children amid freezing temperatures. As many as 17 members of a family were crammed together in the back of a van.