There is an old Turkish adage, "Turks have no other friends than Turks". But in the past week, as tens of thousands of Turks got used to living in squalid and inadequate tent cities, most of them realised they had plenty of friends abroad and few friends in the government.
In the past week, there has been an unprecedented outpouring of public affection and expressions of gratitude for foreign rescue workers. Foreign rescue teams leaving the country have been given standing ovations by Turks at Istanbul airport. Even the pro-Islamist daily Zaman, under the headline "Earthquake Destroys Taboos", conceded: "So Turks do have other friends than Turks." Many Turks are blaming "cowboy builders" and developers for inadequate standards in houses and blocks of flats now in debris. Often they were built on damp marshland, or with walls one hollow brick thick, using flimsy concrete and thin metal reinforcing rods. But Turkey's 400,000 building contractors have operated with impunity because ever since Turgat Ozal was elected prime minister in 1983, governments and local authorities have turned blind eyes to short cuts.
In Istanbul, where more than 1,000 people died, there is a disturbingly close relationship between the planning authorities and builders. In the Avcilar area of the city, where most of the victims lived, Mr Tulat Gulyas, a building contractor who has put up 25 properties in the district, is head of the public works committee, which has the power to decide what does and does not get built. With his own building firm, he is both poacher and gamekeeper; he is also a prominent member of the Democratic Left Party of the Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit.
A tide of anger is swelling up against the Turkish authorities. Survivors have been voicing criticism of the government, its ministers and state institutions that is unprecedented in its harshness. Angry viewers are phoning television stations to voice their frustration at a state accused of standing idle in the face of disaster.
Public anger is mounting at what most Turks now see as a dysfunctional state apparatus. The cumulative effect of bungled government actions over the past two weeks amount to what is a national disaster in itself.
When President Suleyman Demirel visited Cilimli, Red Crescent offices and clinics "closed for the weekend" and rescue work was interrupted for several hours. Newspapers accuse the government of allowing the Turkish Red Crescent Society to become a near-moribund organisation that was totally absent from the quake scene for the first few days, and they accuse the Red Crescent of spending lavishly on new offices while providing the survivors with antiquated tents, many of which are not even waterproof.
The outdated and unhygienic tents proved inadequate alternatives to the wet cardboard-and-blanket huts of many survivors. After three successive days of rain, children and old people were sleeping in wet blankets on the cold, damp ground. The government said thousands of tents and hotel rooms were prepared in advance of the rain, but many survivors were unaware of them, or simply too tired to reach them.
Foreign health workers complained that no contagious disease centre had been established. But the Health Minister, Mr Osman Durmus, said foreign doctors and supplies were not needed, and made callous, disparaging remarks about foreigners. Greeks were the first neighbours to offer blood donations, but the nationalist Mr Durmus said Turks didn't need to be tainted with Greek blood.
Mr Durmus also rejected an offer of aid from neighbouring Armenia, not because Armenia might have little to offer in the area - in fact, Armenia has developed great expertise since its own earthquake disaster in December 1988 - but because it came from Armenians. Now he has been branded a "callous, ignorant racist" by the press for his ultra-nationalistic statements about foreign rescue workers and is the target of an e-mail and fax campaign calling for his resignation.
Mr Memduh Oguz, the governor of Kocaeli, the province of which Izmit is the capital, suggested the demand for emergency shelter could be eased if only the survivors would return home.
During the week, government figures showed a dramatic rise in the death toll, but the total of 18,000 was later revised down again to 12,500, raising public doubts about the accuracy and efficiency of the count. Eventually, the government blamed local officials in Izmit, saying they had inflated their body count to get more aid. But the Mayor of Izmit, Mr Sefa Sirmen, said it was a simple "human error".
The military has long been considered the lone Turkish institution capable of handling any crisis. But that admiration was eroded when the army proved too slow and too late in deploying soldiers to the quake zone.
According to estimates, 200,000 people are homeless. The Public Works Minister, Mr Koray Aydin, a member of the same hard-line party as Mr Durmus, says emergency housing may not be ready for everyone until late November, while Mr Ecevit says building permanent replacements could take up to 18 months. In the meantime, how are these people going to withstand the chilly rains and the coming winter cold? And how can they be confident that any temporary shelter or housing will withstand further after-shocks, never mind another quake?
The government has responded to criticism, not by stepping up the rescue efforts, but by expressing cabinet solidarity, and by silencing its critics. The state television watchdog, the High Board of Radio and Television, (RTUK), has imposed a week-long blackout on Kanal 6 and Mr Dumas has threatened to close the ATV channel.
The one government response to come quickly was a proposal to impose a "national earthquake solidarity tax" that included a 10 per cent increase on income and corporate taxes, doubling property and car taxes, and an incredible 125 per cent on many cellphones.
Business leaders pointed out the new tax would only deal a further blow to an already ailing economy. Mr Tufan Unal of the Aegean Businessmen's Association says the government response shows "bad political habits" and a heavy-handed, moth-eaten" approach to state management.
If the Turkish government and army have failed their people these past two weeks, the Turks themselves have shown their own resilience and determiniation.
If there has been any good news for Turks this week it is that they have friends overseas, among the rescue workers, the aid donors, and even in surprising and unexpected quarters such as neighbouring Greece and Armenia.
Greece, in effect, has put aside decades of traditional rivalry in a salutary lesson to all who need to learn to live with their neighbours.