In Pictures

Gallery|Turkey-Syria Earthquake

Displaced Turkish family in Gaziantep talks about run-off

The Suzers were hoping to have a home to call their own before the elections were held.

As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Turkish mother Ozlem Suzer, 39, rocks the cradle of her seven-month-old daughter Asel in the tent the family of four has been assigned in Gaziantep’s Masal Park after the February 6 earthquakes made their house in the city inaccessible. The family fears having to leave their tent anytime soon and hope that the election will give them at least two more weeks of safety. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
By Stefania D'Ignoti and Carola Cappellari
Published On 16 May 2023

Gaziantep, Turkey – Turkey is set for a second-round vote for president in two weeks’ time, while people still displaced in tented settlements in earthquake-stricken areas say they have spent the “longest night” of the past two decades.

Cramped together, watching live election results as they could – some nervously looking through their phones, others peaking through a tent neighbour’s improvised TV station – thousands held their breath all night.

They didn’t imagine that frantic wait would last even longer, until the early evening of the next day, when the need for a second ballot was finally confirmed.

More than three million people in southeastern Turkey have been displaced after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 50,000 people on February 6. Thousands still live in tents and have had to endure extra challenges to cast their vote.

In Gaziantep, where more than 3,000 people died and thousands more remain without a home, Ozlem Suzer, 39, her husband Abbas, 49, and their daughters Fatma and Asel – aged 15 years and seven months, respectively – have been living in a tent provided by Turkey’s disaster relief agency AFAD, for the past three months. As government supporters over the past few years, they say the earthquake shifted their political perspectives.

“We are now refugees in our own country. We feel as if we didn’t have enough support during this time,” says Ozlem’s husband, sitting on the floor of his family’s tent.

The same day the baby was born, Abbas lost his job as a bus driver in Turkey’s escalating economic crisis. Then, the earthquake happened.

Their old house in the city’s Yukarıbayır neighbourhood, which is part of an old housing complex in the suburbs, is too dangerous to return to. They tried looking for a new house, but rent in the city skyrocketed and they couldn’t afford to buy new furniture.

Unlike the majority of voters in more devastated provinces like Hatay or Kahramanmaras, the Suzers were able to cast their vote. But they had hoped the elections would be postponed until survivors like them could fully resettle.

“Our daily life is not normal at the moment, we are not able to think about our future in the long term,” Abbas says. But still, early in the morning of May 14, they asked their neighbours to guard their tent while they were away and walked to the nearest polling station.

In the last elections in 2018, they had decided to not vote as they thought it wouldn’t matter. But the quake motivated them to go. “I don’t think anything will change with the elections, since we lost all hope towards any politician, but a change is needed,” says Ozlem.

Regardless of the results, their biggest fear is that tent settlements will be dismantled soon after the elections end. So they hope the ballot will give them at least two more weeks of safety.

Although the earthquake was initially thought to be a game-changer for the elections, the majority of survivors still voted for the current government in power, despite initial criticisms of how it handled the crisis.

In the cold spring evening breeze of the city where baklava was born, the Ozlems remained vigilant all night, scared that violence might break out any time. Feeling exposed without an actual home, in the open air of Gaziantep’s Masal Park, they spent the night’s darkest hours holding each other.

As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
A woman returns to her tent in Gaziantep’s Masal Park, where a settlement was set up for dozens of displaced families after two successive earthquakes hit southeast Turkey and northwest Syria on February 6. In Gaziantep, more than 3,000 people have died and thousands more remain without a home. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
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As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Fifteen-year-old Fatma plays with her baby sister, Asel, inside the tent in Gaziantep’s Masal Park, where they have been living with their parents since the first week of March. Although Fatma still attends school, she struggles to study due to the lack of technology devices and limited access to the internet. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
The increasing temperatures and the lack of cleaning facilities in the tent city in the park make it particularly challenging for the family to tend to the baby. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
The Suzers, who have been living in a tent in Masal Park since early March, have limited access to the internet and rely on the neighbours for election result updates. They do not have an internet data plan, and there is no WiFi in the tented settlements. “We have to choose between buying internet or food, and food is more important,” says the mother of three, Ozlem. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Ozlem Suzer, 39, prepares a bottle for her daughter, Asel, who was only four months when the earthquake damaged their home in Gaziantep’s Yukarıbayır neighbourhood and forced them to move to the tent city in Masal Park. The day the baby was born, her father lost his job as a driver, the only source of income the family relied on. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Ozlem, her husband Abbas, 49, and their daughter Asel stand at the entrance of their tent in Masal Park. The couple struggles to see a bright future after they lost their home during the February 6 earthquake and, just a few months earlier, the only source of income the family relied on. Although living in temporary accommodation, the Suzers were able to cast their vote, although they had hoped the elections would have been postponed until they could fully resettle. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
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As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Residents in a tent city set up in Gaziantep’s Masal Park, currently home to dozens of displaced families, take a stroll in the early evening of May 15, 2023, a day after the Turkish general elections took place. After a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey alone on February 6, more than three million people in the southeastern borders of Turkey have been displaced. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Turkish citizens cast their vote at Gaziantep’s Hatice Lutfu Akcan Anadolu High School on election day. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Turkey is headed for a run-off vote where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who fell short of an outright majority to extend his 20-year rule, will face off against his opposition rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroglu. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
As Turkey is set for the next voting turn in two weeks, people still displaced in tented settlements in the earthquake-stricken areas have spent the longest night of the past two decades.
Ozlem Suzer awaits the results of the Turkish elections in the early evening of May 14, together with her neighbours in Gaziantep’s Masal Park tent city, which has been hosting dozens of displaced families since early March. Although living in temporary accommodations, the residents were able to cast their vote in what is considered the country's most important election in a century. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]
Erdogan supporters gather and cheer in Gaziantep, Turkey
Supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gather and cheer outside AK Party (Justice and Development) headquarters in Gaziantep, Turkey, early morning on May 15, 2023. A run-off between the current president and the CHP leader Kılıcdaroglu is scheduled to take place on May 28, 2023. [Carola Cappellari/Al Jazeera]