While thousands of people in Van are still struggling for life in tents and shelters for about five months, the evacuation of tent cities forced people to put their tents in front of their houses or in park areas. However, victims of two major earthquakes that hit Van last October and November are now being evicted from their tents on the grounds that these shelters “disturb the beauty of the city”.

Authorities of General Directorate of Natural Disasters (AFAD) have gone a tent hunt especially before the Prime Minister Erdoðan’s visit to the city in the coming days. While authorities forcibly take people’s tents away in park areas in particular, people are forced to settle on side streets into Mevlana Houses which - earthquake victims say - aren’t any different from tents. People reacted to the forced replacement and demanded a permanent solutions instead of cosmetic and temporary solutions.

Citizen Azmi Aslan who was also evicted from a park area by a group of authorities from the Governorship says that the evacuation of park areas is practice of cleaning made before Erdoðan’s visit to the city. “By doing this, they are just trying to hide their own disgrace. We should be given containers if the problem is intended to be solved”, added Aslan.

Another citizen Zeynep Uray who was in the same way evicted from a park area pointed out that their transfer to side streets aimed to prevent the PM and the press members near him to see the fact that people are still living in tents. Uray, remarking that she hasn’t been provided with any kind of support since the very beginning of the process, says that; “Nobody is thinking about us. Conditions of our tents were absolutely better because we are now 14 people living in a single Mevlana House. We have deficiencies in our basic needs here; bathroom and lavatory in particular. Somebody should now come and see the situation and the fate of thousands, not only mine.”