Given the country’s strategic significance, the upcoming elections are hugely important and the response to the earthquakes will heavily weigh on its outcome.
Photos: Rescue and Recovery in Turkey and Syria theatlantic.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theatlantic.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Winter weather and dozens of aftershocks from Monday's 7.8 magnitude earthquake have slowed rescuers' work to search through the rubble and find survivors in Turkey and Syria.