HDP reacts to the State of Emergency: The ruling party is trying to turn the earthquake into an opportunity

Arti Gercek reports that Tayip Temel, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Co-Chair, reacted to Erdogan’s declaration of a State of Emergency following the earthquakes.

Temel, who said, “We know what the SOE is,” continued his remarks saying, “The declaration of a State of Emergency is not an attempt aimed at relieving the pain or healing the wounds of those in collapsed cities. The fact that they would put the SOE on their agenda even on the occasion of the earthquake shows that they hope to gain something from it.”

“CAMOUFLAGING THEIR INCOMPETENCE WITH A STATE OF EMERGENCY”

Temel, who spoke to Mesopotamia News Agency, said, “We are faced with the policy of a state that killed social solidarity by consolidating aid at one-stop and which thus gives us no recourse but to depend on its crumbling institutions. The ruling party is trying to camouflage its incompetence through a State of Emergency.”

“A STATE OF EMERGENCY WILL NOT RELIEVE ANY PAIN IN CITIES”

"We know what the State of Emergency is," said Temel, and continued his words as follows: "It is a policy that envisions as a solution a new regime of repression that does not act and does not let others act either. An SOE means giving authority to the government and its supporters under extraordinary circumstances and creating opportunities for them. An SOE is the name given to the power to restrict social opposition. The declaration of a State of Emergency is not an attempt aimed at relieving the pain or healing the wounds of those in collapsed cities. It should instead be characterized as the new stage of ‘God's gift.’* Instead of the state of emergency, the thing to do is to give all social segments of society the opportunity of social solidarity, and to create the conditions for society to take care of society. Entrances to cities should not be closed, but should be regulated, aid teams should be formed from civil society organizations, while all the means and opportunities of the army and other law enforcement forces should be spent on creating conditions that will facilitate this aid. It is dangerous to transform law enforcement into a blocking factor with the state of emergency.”

“RULING POWER TURNS DISASTER TO CRISIS”

Stating that the government turned the earthquake disaster into a crisis, Temel said, "The fact that the government has put the state of emergency on its agenda even on the occasion of the earthquake shows that the government hopes to gain something from it. In 2016, it was said that the State of Emergency was declared to take precautions limited to the reasons that required it to be declared. However, all fundamental rights and freedoms were shelved, except for the measures required under the State of Emergency. They scrapped all rights, from freedom of expression to freedom of association, from freedom of the press to extension of pretrial detentions, from arbitrary arrests to prison conditions. The declaration of a state of emergency, which also encapsulates the election cycle, is unacceptable. We are against it to the end, we will not accept this decision, we will fight it to the end.”

*Temel is referring to President Erdogan describing the 2016 coup as a “Gift from God.”