Following the recent earthquake that shook the western coasts and the Marmara region of Turkey, several reactionary comments were diffused in social media. The mayor of the capital city of Ankara claimed that the earthquake was ‘artificial’ and made by ‘external powers’.
A powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the western coast of Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday, rattling buildings from the Aegean Turkish province of İzmir to Greece's capital of Athens. After the earthquake, several people, including Melih Gökçek, the provocative pro-AKP (the ruling Justice and Development Party) mayor of the capital city of Ankara, made reactionary, non-sense and non-scientific comments in social media.
Gökçek stated that the earthquake was ‘artificial’ and made by ‘external powers’ on Twitter. He claimed that the earthquake was due to the foreign seismic ships and they should not be let within the territorial waters of Turkey without permission.
Some reactionary people wrote on Twitter that ‘This earthquake is for those who do not fast’, alluding to the citizens living in the western coastal cities and Marmara region of Turkey, who are mainly secular and nonreligious.
The Aegean city of İzmir, called ‘giaour İzmir’by Islamists and AKP fans implying the Christian and Greek history of the city, often becomes the main target of such reactionary and Islamist reactions.
