Quake victims rally around Erdoğan ahead of presidential runoff

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stares down from a campaign poster at the earthquake ruins of Antakya, inspiring confidence in Ahmet Gülyıldızoğlu ahead of Sunday's election runoff.

Millions across the quake-hit region voted for Erdoğan who has ruled Türkiye for two decades and fell just short of securing another five-year term on May 14.

Erdoğan's rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, "does not fill you with hope," Gülyıldızoğlu said in front of a debris-strewn expanse once occupied by his six-floor apartment building.

"On the other hand, you have an alliance that keeps their promises," the pensioner added, referring to Erdoğan's People's Alliance.

Erdoğan's ability to maintain support across Türkiye's southeastern disaster zone contributed to Kılıçdaroğlu's disappointing showing in the first round, which he ended trailing by nearly five points.

The Turkish leader is now the strong favourite, capping a remarkable turnaround.

Some of that fury has spilt over onto social media, where survivors were targeted for backing Erdoğan.

Gülyıldızlıoğlu's daughter Hatice said the attacks stung.

"This really offended us," she said. "Our grief is immense. You have to live it to understand."

Erdoğan has won votes with pledges to build victims new homes by early next year.

Hakan Tiryaki, the provincial head of Kılıçdaroğlu's leftist party, is sensitive to complaints that the opposition did not make its voice heard enough before the first round.

Campaigning any harder might have given the impression that the opposition was trying to profit from people's grief, Tiryaki told AFP.

It might also have failed to change the mind of voters such as Omer Edip Aslantaş, 51, who remembers chatting with other leftists about developing Türkiye in the 1970s.

"The Turkish left is no longer the same," he said in Kırıkhan, a northern Hatay district that backed Erdoğan.

"They have become anti-Turk, anti-Muslim."