This is CBS High on the World. I'm John Bachelot. The news from the earthquake zone in Turkey

and Syria remains gloomy and not promising. Reuters is saying as of these hours, earthquake

death toll in Turkey. Turkey alone rises to 43,556. The expectation is that there will

be more discoveries. Also, they are continued to be aftershocks. They're continued to be

damaged in new buildings where people are living while they're maintaining the best they

can, the rescue efforts. The estimate is that 600,000 apartments and 150,000 commercial

premises have suffered at least moderate damage. It is a catastrophe on a scale that

a European commentator said he had not seen in his lifetime. I'm very happy to invite

Sinan Chidi of the Foundation for the Dementsy of Democracy to help me understand not only the

catastrophe to the people of Turkey and to the economy of this whole region, but also

what this means because it's a presidential election year. Five years since the last

election is June of this year and there was before the quake a scheduled election for Mr.

Erdogan running for re-election in May. But now, Sinan, a very good evening to you. Thank

you for this. Before the quake, there was much maneuvering as you've educated me to

understand, to challenge Mr. Erdogan. And Erdogan, a good presidential campaigner, was responding

with my list from your articles, raising the minimum wage, advancing the pension's

paid, and also reaching into monetary policy to adjust the troubled Turkey economy. That

stopped when the quake hit. Was it successful? Before the quake, was he being successful in

winning attention from his constituents despite the economy? Good evening to you.

Yes, thank you for the question. So, short answer is yes. It was starting to be effective

in terms of moving the needle in polling numbers to attract wayward voters who had previously

voted for Erdogan but were unhappy with his performance in the last year or so. But the

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