Saruhan Oluç, deputy chairperson of the HDP parliamentary group, spoke at a press conference in Ankara on last Friday's earthquake in Elazığ. According to official figures, the number of dead in Elazığ and the neighbouring province of Malatya has risen to 41 and 1,607 people were injured. The rescue work is being hampered by aftershocks. Since Friday 948 aftershocks have been registered.

Saruhan Oluç referred to the great solidarity shown by civil society during previous earthquakes in Turkey: "The solidarity with Düzce, Izmit and Van was very important and has saved many lives. It testifies to a good and important spirit. It is good when society acts together in painful times. We also wanted to deal with the matter in this sense. Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Interior politicised the matter during these bitter times, although the Minister himself had declared that politicisation should be avoided. He did everything he could to obstruct our work to care for the victims of the earthquake. We regard this as a very shameful behaviour. On his order, two trucks with relief supplies from the municipality of Ergani (a district in Diyarbakir) were stopped on their way to the earthquake area and sent back. This is inhuman. However, we are not people who are deterred by this and we will not take a step backwards when it comes to ensuring that the population is provided with basic needs during these cold winter days. If the relief supplies of the municipality of Muratpaşa [a district in Antalya] are allowed but rejected from Ergani, we are dealing with separatism.”

The HDP politician criticised the inadequate preventive measures against the risk of earthquakes and the use of the taxpayers' money raised for this purpose for other purposes. In this context he also addressed the situation in Istanbul and warned against losses of lives in a possible earthquake, criticizing the construction of numerous buildings on risky areas.

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