The World Bank has approved a $500 million loan to Turkey aimed at preserving jobs and supporting economic recovery in regions devastated by the country’s 2023 earthquakes, state broadcaster TRT reported on Tuesday, citing country’s Treasury and Finance Ministry.
The loan is part of the second phase of the World Bank’s Formal Employment Creation Project and will be used to support small and medium-sized enterprises as well as larger companies across 18 provinces. Funding will be distributed through the Development and Investment Bank of Turkey, a state-owned institution.
The February 6, 2023 twin earthquakes — one with a magnitude of 7.8 followed hours later by another at 7.5 — struck southeastern Turkey and parts of northern Syria. The disaster killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and left millions homeless. The Turkish government declared a state of emergency in 11 provinces and launched one of the largest reconstruction efforts in the country’s modern history.
The new funding will target those 11 affected provinces — Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa — along with seven neighboring provinces: Batman, Bingöl, Kayseri, Mardin, Niğde, Sivas and Tunceli.
The goal is to preserve existing jobs and create new employment opportunities by providing long-term financing to businesses struggling in the aftermath of the disaster.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said the government remains focused on rebuilding the quake-hit region and restoring economic activity.
“Since the 2023 earthquakes, we’ve ramped up reconstruction efforts,” Şimşek was quoted as saying. “We’re prioritizing initiatives to ease the disaster’s economic toll and speed up recovery.”
Opposition lawmakers, civil society groups and survivors have criticized the government for what they describe as a failure to respond effectively to the disaster. The initial emergency response was marred by delays in rescue operations, lack of coordination and the absence of military deployment in the critical first 48 hours. In some areas survivors waited days for help to arrive.
Beyond the emergency phase, critics say the government has yet to confront the systemic failures that led to such high casualties. For years, Turkish authorities issued so-called “construction amnesties,” legalizing millions of buildings that failed to meet earthquake safety standards. Many of the collapsed structures were built under these relaxed regulations.
Although the Justice Ministry launched investigations into over 100 contractors, few local officials have faced charges. Human Rights Watch recently criticized the Turkish authorities for shielding public officials and municipal authorities from legal scrutiny despite clear evidence of negligence and regulatory failures.
As of early 2025 the government said it had completed around 200,000 of the 650,000 homes promised to displaced families. Analysts note that only about 30 percent of the needed housing has been delivered, and many quake survivors remain in container shelters or tents with limited access to basic services.
The World Bank had pledged $1.78 billion in total support to Turkey since the 2023 disaster. While international donors have backed reconstruction with loans and aid packages, many in Turkey question whether the funding is being used effectively and whether lessons have truly been learned from one of the country’s deadliest peacetime tragedies.