Erdogan Pins Election Hopes on ‘Building Türkiye’ Mission after Quake

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks through the crowd as he visits the hard-hit southeastern province of Hatay, the seen of destruction following two earthquakes on February 20, 2023. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks through the crowd as he visits the hard-hit southeastern province of Hatay, the seen of destruction following two earthquakes on February 20, 2023. (AFP)
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Erdogan Pins Election Hopes on ‘Building Türkiye’ Mission after Quake

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks through the crowd as he visits the hard-hit southeastern province of Hatay, the seen of destruction following two earthquakes on February 20, 2023. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks through the crowd as he visits the hard-hit southeastern province of Hatay, the seen of destruction following two earthquakes on February 20, 2023. (AFP)

Recep Tayyip Erdogan rose to power 20 years ago as Türkiye emerged from the twin blows of rampant inflation and a deadly earthquake, promising a new era of sound government after the coalition of the time was accused of mismanaging both crises.

As he seeks to extend his rule into a third decade, modern Türkiye’s longest serving leader is blamed by opponents for fueling runaway inflation once again, and letting constructors flout earthquake regulations which could have saved lives.

Elections due in June - if they can be held in southern Türkiye’s earthquake zone where millions are homeless - are shaping up to be President Erdogan's toughest test to date at the ballot box.

His Islamist-rooted AK Party came to power in 2002 amid a financial crisis and following the collapse of a coalition government facing strong criticism over its handling of the response to a devastating 1999 earthquake.

Since the latest quake, the 68-year-old veteran of more than a dozen election victories has toured shattered cities, promising rapid reconstruction and punishment for constructors who skirted rules aimed at making buildings safe.

But that may not be enough to convince angry survivors whose homes crumpled into dust in the 7.8 magnitude quake which killed tens of thousands of people, and who said emergency rescue teams were too slow to deploy.

The leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan's possible rival in the presidential vote, blamed the scale of the damage on "systematic profiteering politics" during Erdogan's two decades in power.

"If there is anyone responsible for this process, it is Erdogan. It is this ruling party that has not prepared the country for an earthquake for 20 years," he said.

Officials have said Erdogan, who turns 69 on Sunday, considered delaying the elections but now favors going ahead, confident he can rally Turkish voters around a slogan for his post-earthquake mission: "We're building Türkiye together".

"Erdogan was really pained, even shaken by the earthquake. But by no means did he give up and there is no despair," one source close to him said, adding that he has shown flashes of anger when he thought people were not delivering.

The fiery campaigner has also appeared weary at times.

"His work got heavier - he was already busy," the source said. "When the visits to the earthquake sites are included ... he may seem tired, which is normal."

Survived attempted coup

At stake in the presidential and parliamentary elections is the direction of a country which Erdogan has increasingly shaped to his vision of a pious, conservative society and assertive regional player.

Opponents have vowed to revoke the powerful executive presidency he created, returning Türkiye to parliamentary democracy and restoring independence to a central bank which implemented his call for low interest rates - driving economic growth but crashing the lira and firing up inflation.

Such high stakes are nothing new for a leader who survived an attempted military coup in 2016 when rogue soldiers attacked parliament and killed 250 people.

The son of a poor sea captain, he rose from humble roots in a poor district of Istanbul where he attended Islamic vocational school, entering politics as a local party youth branch leader.

After serving as mayor of Istanbul, he stepped onto the national stage as head of the AK Party, which triumphed in 2002 national elections. He became prime minister the following year, in March 2003.

At the height of his success, Türkiye enjoyed a protracted economic boom, with new roads, hospitals and schools and rising living standards for its 80 million people.

His AK Party tamed Türkiye’s military, which had toppled four governments since 1960, and in 2005 began talks to secure a decades-long ambition to join the European Union - a process which has now come to a grinding halt.

Western allies initially saw Erdogan's Türkiye as a vibrant mix of Islam and democracy which could be a model for Middle East states struggling to shake off stagnation.

But his drive to wield greater control polarized the country and alarmed international partners. Fervent supporters saw it as just reward for a leader who put Islamist teachings back at the core of public life and championed the pious working classes.

Opponents portrayed it as a lurch into authoritarianism by a leader addicted to power.

After the coup attempt authorities launched a crackdown, jailing more than 77,000 people pending trial and dismissing or suspending 150,000 from state jobs. Media rights groups say Türkiye became the world's biggest jailer of journalists.

Erdogan's government said the purge was justified by threats from coup supporters, as well as ISIS and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.

At home, a sprawling new presidential palace complex on the edge of Ankara became a striking sign of his new powers, while abroad Türkiye intervened in Syria, Iraq and Libya - often deploying Turkish-made military drones with decisive force.

While they forged an indispensable role for Türkiye, the interventions won few allies. Faced with a struggling economy, a weak currency and a countdown to this year's election, Erdogan sought rapprochement with rivals across the region.

Now he must convince voters he is the leader to rebuild Türkiye from the rubble after this month's earthquake.

"The size of the calamity is so big that the electoral cycle will inevitably be affected by this tragedy. That will be, in all likelihood, to the detriment of the ruling AK Party and President Erdogan," said Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies.



To Get Their Own Cash, People in Gaza Must Pay Middlemen a 40% Cut

A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
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To Get Their Own Cash, People in Gaza Must Pay Middlemen a 40% Cut

A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
A destroyed branch of the Bank of Palestine in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)

Cash is the lifeblood of the Gaza Strip’s shattered economy, and like all other necessities in this war-torn territory — food, fuel, medicine — it is in extremely short supply.

With nearly every bank branch and ATM inoperable, people have become reliant on an unrestrained network of powerful cash brokers to get money for daily expenses and commissions on those transactions have soared to about 40%.

"The people are crying blood because of this," said Ayman al-Dahdouh, a school director living in Gaza City. "It’s suffocating us, starving us."

At a time of surging inflation, high unemployment and dwindling savings, the scarcity of cash has magnified the financial squeeze on families — some of whom have begun to sell their possessions to buy essential goods.

The cash that is available has even lost some of its luster. Palestinians use the Israeli currency, the shekel, for most transactions. Yet with Israel no longer resupplying the territory with newly printed bank notes, merchants are increasingly reluctant to accept frayed bills.

Gaza’s punishing cash crunch has several root causes, experts say.

To curtail Hamas’ ability to purchase weapons and pay its fighters, Israel stopped allowing cash to enter Gaza at the start of the war. Around the same time, many wealthy families in Gaza withdrew their money from banks and then fled the territory. And rising fears about Gaza’s financial system prompted foreign businesses selling goods into the territory to demand cash payments.

As Gaza’s money supply dwindled and civilians’ desperation mounted, cash brokers' commissions — around 5% at the start of the war — skyrocketed.

Someone needing cash transfers money electronically to a broker and moments later is handed a fraction of that amount in bills. Many brokers openly advertise their services, while others are more secretive. Some grocers and retailers have also begun exchanging cash for their customers.

"If I need $60, I need to transfer $100," said Mohammed Basheer al-Farra, who lives in southern Gaza after being displaced from Khan Younis. "This is the only way we can buy essentials, like flour and sugar. We lose nearly half of our money just to be able to spend it."

In 2024, inflation in Gaza surged by 230%, according to the World Bank. It dropped slightly during the ceasefire that began in January, only to shoot up again after Israel backed out of the truce in March.

Cash touches every aspect of life in Gaza

About 80% of people in Gaza were unemployed at the end of 2024, according to the World Bank, and the figure is likely higher now. Those with jobs are mostly paid by direct deposits into their bank accounts.

But "when you want to buy vegetables, food, water, medication -- if you want to take transportation, or you need a blanket, or anything — you must use cash," al-Dahdouh said.

Shahid Ajjour’s family has been living off of savings for two years after the pharmacy and another business they owned were ruined by the war.

"We had to sell everything just to get cash," said Ajjour, who sold her gold to buy flour and canned beans. The family of eight spends the equivalent of $12 every two days on flour; before the war, that cost less than $4.

Sugar is very expensive, costing the equivalent of $80-$100 per kilogram (2.2 pounds), multiple people said; before the war, that cost less than $2.

Gasoline is about $25 a liter, or roughly $95 a gallon, when paying the lower, cash price.

Bills are worn and unusable

The bills in Gaza are tattered after 21 months of war.

Money is so fragile, it feels as if it is going to melt in your hands, said Mohammed al-Awini, who lives in a tent camp in southern Gaza.

Small business owners said they were under pressure to ask customers for undamaged cash because their suppliers demand pristine bills from them.

Thaeir Suhwayl, a flour merchant in Deir al-Balah, said his suppliers recently demanded he pay them only with brand new 200-shekel ($60) bank notes, which he said are rare. Most civilians pay him with 20-shekel ($6) notes that are often in poor condition.

On a recent visit to the market, Ajjour transferred the shekel equivalent of around $100 to a cash broker and received around $50 in return. But when she tried to buy some household supplies from a merchant, she was turned away because the bills weren’t in good condition.

"So the worth of your $50 is zero in the end," she said.

This problem has given rise to a new business in Gaza: money repair. It costs between 3 and 10 shekels ($1-$3) to mend old bank notes. But even cash repaired with tape or other means is sometimes rejected.

People are at the mercy of cash brokers

After most of the banks closed in the early days of the war, those with large reserves of cash suddenly had immense power.

"People are at their mercy," said Mahmoud Aqel, who has been displaced from his home in southern Gaza. "No one can stop them."

The war makes it impossible to regulate market prices and exchange rates, said Dalia Alazzeh, an expert in finance and accounting at the University of the West of Scotland. "Nobody can physically monitor what’s happening," Alazzeh said.

A year ago, the Palestine Monetary Authority, the equivalent of a central bank for Gaza and the West Bank, sought to ease the crisis by introducing a digital payment system known as Iburaq. It attracted half a million users, or a quarter of the population, according to the World Bank, but was ultimately undermined by merchants insisting on cash.

Israel sought to ramp up financial pressure on Hamas earlier this year by tightening the distribution of humanitarian aid, which it said was routinely siphoned off by militants and then resold.

Experts said it is unclear if the cash brokers’ activities benefit Hamas, as some Israeli analysts claim.

The war has made it more difficult to determine who is behind all sorts of economic activity in the territory, said Omar Shabaan, director of Palthink for Strategic Studies, a Gaza-based think tank.

"It's a dark place now. You don't know who is bringing cigarettes into Gaza," he said, giving just one example. "It's like a mafia."

These same deep-pocketed traders are likely the ones running cash brokerages, and selling basic foodstuffs, he said. "They benefit by imposing these commissions," he said.

Once families run out of cash, they are forced to turn to humanitarian aid.

Al-Farra said that is what prompted him to begin seeking food at an aid distribution center, where it is common for Palestinians to jostle over one other for sacks of flour and boxes of pasta.

"This is the only way I can feed my family," he said.