The Turkish president finally made a mea culpa.

"Due to the devastating effect of the tremors and bad weather, we were not able to work the way we wanted in Adiyaman for the first few days. I apologize for this," Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing the residents of Adiyaman province in southeastern Turkey, one of the regions most affected by the devastating earthquakes of February 6.

The Turkish head of state was visiting this province, three weeks after the earthquakes which killed more than 44,000 people in Turkey and also affected neighboring Syria.

Four days after the disaster, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sketched out a form of mea culpa, already to Adiyaman, without however asking for forgiveness.

"The destruction affected so many buildings (...) that, unfortunately, we were unable to carry out our interventions as quickly as hoped," he said at the time.

He also acknowledged "gaps" in the response to earthquakes, adding that it is "impossible to be prepared for such a disaster".

"No state, no police, no soldiers"

The Turkish president, in power for twenty years and who wishes to remain in office during the election scheduled for May 14, has come under strong criticism from survivors, who blame the state for the slowness of relief.

In this province and that of Hatay, also very affected, survivors expressed their anger to AFP a few days after the natural disaster.

One of them, Mehmet Yildirim, had assured on February 10 that he had seen "nobody", "no state, no police, no soldiers" before "2 p.m., the second day of the earthquake", that is to say 34 hours after the first shock.

He accused the authorities of leaving the population "on their own" in Adiyaman province.

To see: "In the devastated city of Adiyaman, rescuers are working to find survivors"

This weekend, supporters of Istanbul football clubs also shouted their displeasure in the stadiums, calling for the resignation of the government.

On Monday, the Turkish president promised the construction of nearly 50,000 new homes in this province of Adiyaman out of a total of 309,000 that should come out of the ground in the eleven provinces affected by the earthquake.

With AFP

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