Erdogan says quake-related issues stand above all

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on March 31 that his government prioritizes earthquake-related issues over everything else, as he vowed to continue striving to ensure that the quake-hit regions can get back on their feet.

"Regardless of what others do, whatever fake agendas they pursue, we spend every single day focusing on earthquake-linked issues," Erdogan said at an iftar meal, a dinner to mark the breaking of the daily fast, in the Kilis province, per Daily Sabah.

"We will not stop until we revive all of our cities destroyed by the earthquakes, along with their villages and districts," the president told a groundbreaking ceremony for new houses in the quake-hit city of Gaziantep earlier on March 31.

Saying that a "comprehensive preparation for the transformation of risky buildings across Türkiye" is being carried out, Erdoğan pledged to "make our cities safe, peaceful, resistant to earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires and all other risks as soon as possible with the Türkiye National Risk Shield model."

"Our aim is to construct a total of 650,000 new houses, 319,000 of which are to be completed within a year, and deliver them to the quake victims," he added.

Over 50,000 people have died in the earthquakes, with at least 12,307 in Kahramanmarash.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.

Over 13.5 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes as well as many others in northern Syria.

Erdoğan also asked for support in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, and expressed his desire for Türkiye to continue on the "right path" as the country and the world face "a critical crossroads."

Türkiye will head to the ballot boxes on May 14 to elect its president and members of Parliament.

Voting is scheduled to start at 8 am local time (5 am GMT) and end by 5 pm (2 pm GMT).

If no presidential candidate gets a majority in the first round, the Supreme Election Council (YSK) set May 28 as the date for a possible second-round runoff.