Page 49 - bne magazine February 2024_20240206

bne February 2024 Southeast Europe I 49
“The centre of gravity of Russian influence is the Moldovan public – they need to manipulate enough of the electorate
to take control or particulate in control of one or more important institutions. That is going to be the parliament,” said Popsoi.
“Transnistria has reformed a bit, Moldova has dealt with energy, now central is the political challenge that I think over next year or so is going to be the most important fight for those who want to keep Moldova on its present course.”
“Politically the government is still vulnerable to Russian interference
in the political process because of
the portion of the electorate through poverty or their linguistic orientation that is vulnerable to propaganda or simply buying of votes,” agreed William Hill, global fellow at the Wilson Center.
“In the local elections, the PAS did not do as well as they wanted to. It
is clear the political battles for the presidency in 2024 and parliamentary
elections by mid-25 are going to require serious effort.”
Polls indicate that Sandu is still the most popular choice for president, but if current trends continue the PAS may well lose its majority in parliament to a group of Russia-backed parties. Russian influence via its energy diplomacy and media channels may have been muted, but the attacks in this hybrid war of attrition keep on coming.
Hundreds of children still missing year after Turkey earthquake disaster, say anguished families
bne IntelIiNews
Hundreds of children who
may have been buried alive
in Turkey’s February 6, 2022 earthquake disaster are still missing, according to a group set up for disaster victims and catastrophe-hit families with unaccounted-for relatives.
The shocking claim of the group, the Earthquake Victims and Missing Relatives Solidarity Association, active in Turkey’s post-earthquake zone, runs contrary to the assertions of Turkey’s government. Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas has stated that no children are missing in the zone.
As reported by bianet, Nermin Yildirim- Kara, a lawmaker of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) representing Hatay – the Turkish province that was heaviest hit by the quake disaster centred on southeastern Turkey, known to have taken the lives
of at least 59,000 people, including around 8,500 in northern Syria – has taken up the cause of anguished families in the zone distressed that their children have been missing for almost a year since the disaster struck, destroying around 350,000 apartments.
Citing posts from the Earthquake Victims and Missing Relatives Solidarity Association, Yildirim-Kara reportedly emphasised the urgency of the situation.
"If there are no missing children, where are these children? Have their families been provided with any information?” the MP was reported as saying, adding: “If we indeed have no missing children, why have these families been searching for their children for 11 months? We demand answers from the ministry.”
Yildirim-Kara noted that there was a proposal for a parliamentary
investigation based on data shared
by the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority that showed 211 citizens were still missing in Hatay.
“However, information from our citizens indicates that this number is much higher, including unfortunately, missing children," she was also reported as saying.
Kara was said to have highlighted
one case in which nobody is able to locate six children who resided in the Ronesans residential complex, a luxury estate in Antakya, Hatay, completely devastated by the disaster.
The sequence of earthquakes destroyed around a quarter of a million apartments in Turkey. / Tasnim, Salem Mohammadi, cc-by-sa 4.0
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