PARIS — The massive earthquake that hit eastern Turkey and northwestern Syria early Monday morning was met with shock and horror both in the region and in Europe.

The death toll reached over 20,000 at the time of publication, while thousands of buildings were flattened on both sides of the border as many did not meet the seismic standards — all the more so in ramshackle Syria after more than a decade of war and civil governance neglect. European governments mobilized to send rescue teams and materials, but the geopolitics of the impacted region proved to be an issue.

Aid to Turkey was dispatched while Erdogan was restricting Twitter, having intense quarrels from Sweden to Greece and bickering relentlessly with most other European governments and institutions. Necessity might now force him to tone down the xenophobic language he’s been hammering in view of the forthcoming presidential election set for May 14. Meanwhile, even though he may use the State of Emergency decree to repress opposition even more, the massive rescue policy shortcomings resulting in thousands of people trapped under the debris and freezing until death are expected to exert a heavy toll on his record as an incompetent leader — as hinted at by many furious firsthand reactions of quake victims. 

As for aid to Syria, it proved even more tangled and contentious: On the one hand, the Assad regime is under international sanctions, and on the other, most of the area impacted in the country is under rebel control, be they jihadis in the Idlib province, Turkish mercenaries in Afrin or YPG Kurds in the northeast. The delays will lead to more victims dying by the day under pancaked buildings, as duly equipped rescuers from abroad could not arrive in time. While Russia and some Arab states provided help to the Assad-controlled territories, Idlib province remained largely out of reach because the only gateway from Turkey is a road that was badly damaged by the temblor.