Turkey seizes HDP’s coordination center in earthquake zone

Turkey seizes HDP’s coordination center in earthquake zone
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HDP’s co-chair Pervin Buldan said this is an initiative to stop their aid campaign, but they will continue a great struggle to deliver all the aid materials to the people suffering from hunger and cold, no matter what the cost

Turkish authorities on Wednesday have seized pro-Kurdish HDP's Crisis Coordination Center in Kahramanmaras’ Pazarcik district, the epicenter of the first earthquake that hit Southeastern Turkey on Feb.6.

The district governor Mustafa Hamit Kiyici who was running the operation in person has said they will appoint a trustee to facilitate the center’s work.

Earlier on the day, state-owned Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) also seized two HDP trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Gaziantep, another province devastated by the quakes. The trucks were loaded with 85 stoves and tonnes of firewood and coal, HDP said.

In response to the operation, “Don't you dare to prevent these aids. We will continue to mobilize for our people,” Pervin Buldan, the co-chair of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said.

Buldan said the district governor raided the warehouse where the aid was collected and threatened those working there of arrest should they don’t hand over the warehouse to the governorate to distribute the aid materials.

“Those who were not here in the first days of the earthquake, who did not bring aid to our people, now started an initiative to stop the HDP’s aid campaign. This is an eclipse of reason. It is not for anyone to prevent these aids while people are suffering from a great disaster, hunger and cold. No one has the right to do so. We will continue a great struggle to deliver all the aid and materials to our people, no matter what the cost,” she said in a press conference on Wednesday.