Demirtas warns the opposition of government's hidden motives

Imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas criticized the declaration of state of emergency by the Turkish administration, and warned that it can be turned into an instrument to silence the oppositions.

He said on Twitter:

"What is it that the government does not have the authority to do, that it needs OHAL [sate of emergency] to do it? Are they unable to target the looters, to organize the aid, to carry out rescue operations without OHAL? The opposition should monitor things carefully. It is apparent that there is some other plan involved."

He continued, referring to the state of emergency declared after the coup attempt in 2016:

"OHAL in 2016 was lawlessly used to suppress and silence the opposition. If they resort to the same tactic now and use it for even a single thing out of its purpose, the opposition should raise hell."

A state of emergency for a period of three months was recently declared by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cover 10 provinces impacted by the 6 February earthquake.