Turkish Officials Grapple With Quake Aftermath

Millions gathered at mosques across Turkey on Friday to offer solemn funeral prayers for the more than 13,000 killed by last week’s earthquake, and the government acknowledged that the number of people left homeless could top half a million.

As the scope of the housing crisis became clear, the government moved to assert greater authority in coping with quake-related emergencies. Just before heading into a recess, parliament approved a measure allowing the government to impose decrees for the next three months to deal with the quake’s aftermath.

The development came amid escalating tensions between Turkish authorities and Islamic groups, which are challenging the secular government.

The government said Friday that it had frozen the bank accounts of two Muslim organizations that have been active in quake-relief efforts, saying they had not secured the proper authorization for their financial transactions. The two groups said they were being targeted because of their religious faith.

Private groups--including the Islamists--were publicly praised for providing speedy, efficient help to quake victims, while the government’s response to the magnitude 7.4 quake was criticized as slow and disorganized. The Aug. 17 temblor killed at least 13,472 people and injured 27,164.

The sometimes prickly nature of Turkey’s relations with the West also was apparent Friday. Even as the World Bank pledged large-scale quake assistance to Turkey, the government declared that it would rebuff any aid that came with strings attached, such as a demand that Turkey improve its human rights record.

“We’ll break the halves of bread we have in four pieces and still not accept that aid,” State Minister Tunca Toskay said.

A fuller picture of Turkey’s longer-term needs began to emerge Friday. The government projected that it would need to build about 100,000 to 120,000 new homes for quake victims, said Harun Aslan, spokesman for the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.

With about five people per household, that works out to between 500,000 and 600,000 displaced people, he said.

Friday is the Muslim day of prayer, and worshipers flocked to mosques nationwide for special services for quake victims.

At a service in Ankara, the capital, the head of the government’s religious affairs office, Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, comforted victims but also denounced shoddy building practices blamed for many of the deaths.

Meanwhile, hundreds gathered Friday in Atlanta to remember four American children killed along with their grandfather in the quake. The five Americans were vacationing with their family in the coastal resort of Yalova when the quake struck.