Erdoğan says state of emergency to fight against plunders in quake-stricken provinces

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that the newly declared state of emergency for the 10 quake-stricken provinces will help the state to intervene against the reported plunders in the region. Erdoğan also said that there are people “turning the process into a political abuse” and that the state of emergency would also stop them.

Thursday February 09 2023 03:55 pm

Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that there is plunder in the earthquake-stricken provinces and such incidents would be intervened against with the state of emergency rule declared earlier this week.

Erdoğan made the remarks on Feb. 9 during his visit to the southeastern province of Gaziantep. He said that the government’s “aim is to rebuild the (demolished) buildings in a year.”

“There are those who want to turn the process into a political abuse. My citizen will never credit to this. Today, we will declare the three-month-long state of emergency rule in Parliament. I have taken the first step and it was issued in the Official Gazette. With the voting in Parliament, the state of emergency will take effect. What will this bring? That will give the state the opportunity to intervene against those abusing the process, undertaking corruption, and money brokers. Unfortunately, in some supermarkets and shopping malls, there are attempts of plunder. There will be the opportunity to intervene against these with the state of emergency,” he said.

Afterwards, Erdoğan was expected to pay a visit to the other quake-stricken provinces of Kilis and Osmaniye.

Following the two major earthquakes in the southeastern region on Feb. 6, Erdoğan declared a three-month state of emergency rule (OHAL) in the 10 provinces. The regulation was submitted to the Parliament’s approval on Feb. 9.