Reading solidarity after the February 6 earthquake: The case of Burdur province

In its most basic meaning, solidarity is defined as an action that emerges in the light of common interests, common values, common beliefs and common feelings in society. In this context, this study examines the post-earthquake relief activities through the concept of Mutual Aid. Mutual aid is a concept put forward by the anarchist thinker Kropotkin. Kropotkin states that mutual aid is an impulse within human beings. Mutual aid is as important among animals for the survival of the species as it is among human beings for human flourishing. Mutual aid is an inherent and natural human impulse. Kropotkin is of the view that people mutually help each other. On February 6, 2023, an earthquake centered in Kahramanmaras affected 11 provinces in Turkey. Afterwards, relief activities took place in almost all provinces. Relief activities took place both with the support of formal institutions and informal institutions. In this process, completely independent of formal institutions, citizens also organized themselves and carried out individual and group charitable activities. This study focuses on the solidarity network in which citizens participated individually. In the study, a qualitative research was conducted through an interview form with 20 interviewees who participated voluntarily. It was taken into consideration that the volunteers did not receive support from official institutions, and the aid activities they carried out were analyzed on the axis of Kropotkin's concept of mutual aid. In this context, the concept of solidarity was first analyzed through a literature review. Afterwards, the ideology of anarchism and Kropotkin's anarchism in the axis of the concept of mutual aid were discussed through a literature review, and the analysis of the book Mutual Aid was also included. In the last part of the study, the concept of mutual aid was analyzed in line with the statements of the interviewees.