Providing information about the situation in Pazarcik (Bazarcix) in Maraş, KESK co-chair Mehmet Bozgeyik said: “There are still people under the rubble. No intervention was made. They are waiting for the next building to be demolished. Nearly 80 hours have passed and families are waiting for a miracle. The same happened in Hatay, Malatya and Adıyaman: the state and AFAD intervened insufficiently and late.”

Bozgeyik stated that they have started working on 8 February but faced obstacles in sending the teams of democratic mass organizations, trade unions, professional organizations and political parties to the area.

Bozgeyik continued: “From now on, it is necessary to take very intensive measures, especially in terms of health, food, shelter and hygiene, but there is no Red Crescent in sight. I also look at Islahiye, Nurdağı, Narlı and Pazarcık. There is not one Red Crescent tent, no soup kitchen. The soup kitchens have been set up by the municipalities in the cemevis thanks to Alevi associations and the unions.”

Discrimination is made

Bozgeyik said: “There is a huge disaster, but we are again faced with the discriminatory policies of the state. We learned from the people that although many villages were destroyed, especially in Narlı, the tents were distributed in a discriminatory way. Not enough tents and necessities were sent by the state, especially to Alevi and Kurdish villages.”

Instead of a state of emergency, the state should have declared a disaster area

Bozgeyik continued: “A state of emergency has been declared. In fact, the government should have declared a disaster area. The state started to use the state of emergency with bad intent. Social media bans and restrictions were imposed. There is pressure on the press. The state of emergency should be abandoned. What we saw is that the state collapsed. After all, Turkey is an earthquake zone. It is not the first time we have experienced an earthquake. We have faced hundreds of earthquakes in the history of the Republic. The Van earthquake, the Marmara earthquake, the Bingol earthquake, the last Izmir earthquake.

We hope that from now on, they will at least carry out the next process in a correct and democratic way, taking into account the warnings of our democratic mass organizations."