The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) filed a criminal complaint against the government seizure of the Crisis Coordination Center formed by the party for the earthquake victims in Pazarcik district of Maraş.
On February 15, the district governor, accompanied by the police and gendarmerie, appointed a ‘trustee’ to take over the Crisis Coordination Center that the HDP had established in Hasankoca village in Pazarcık, the epicenter of the first earthquake in Maraş province on February 6. The Center was delivering humanitarian aid to the victims in the district and over one hundred villages around it. HDP’s volunteers in the town were forced to leave the town to avoid detention.
The Law and Human Rights Commission and lawyers of the HDP filed a criminal complaint against Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu, Maraş Governor Ömer Faruk Coşkun, Pazarcık District Governor Mustafa Hamit Kıyıcı, the Gendarmerie Commander and those who gave instructions to appoint a trustee and those involved in the obstruction of the party’s relief campaign.
The criminal complaint said that the Hasankoca Crisis Coordination Center, where a government-appointed trustee took over control, had not only organized humanitarian aid but also provided shelter for the earthquake survivors.
“The Pazarcık district governor, accompanied by hundreds of armed soldiers, confiscated the party’s aid materials and the office. The district governor stated that the government would appoint a new management consisting of 6 officials and confiscate all aid materials,” noted the complaint.
