Support for Erdoğan's AKP shaken in quake-hit heartlands

In the aftermath of the Turkish earthquakes, the offices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's LJustice and Development party (AKP) in Kahramanmaraş were deserted, the front doors tied with a cable

- Ruth Michaelson

A board bearing the party logo and "AK parti" was propped against the broken glass door. Office furniture was piled high, evidence of a cleanup after two powerful quakes shook the city and much of south-east Turkey, jolting an area considered a bedrock of support for the AKP.

Nearby residents said they had seen little of the local AKP officials after the disaster. "They escaped!" joked Mehmet, who declined to give his full name, perched on a sofa inside a furniture and homewares shop. Sparkling pots and pans sat next to new fridges, destined for the homes of people trying to rebuild their lives in an area where the cemetery had been enlarged to accommodate thousands of bodies after the quakes.

"We reopened this shop a week after the earthquakes, and we haven't seen them since," Mehmet said. "This city is the AKP's castle but I haven't seen any of them around here, not even next to the rubble."