Turkish police seize HDP's aid truck for quake victims

The HDP Adana Deputy Kemal Peköz announced that the police seized the party's aid truck for the earthquake victims on the grounds that "there is no permission from the governor's office." Three people were detained, including the driver of the truck.

Duvar English

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Adana Deputy Kemal Peköz on Feb. 11 announced that the police seized the aid truck of his party sent from İzmir to Osmaniye province for the earthquake victims.

The police, who seized the truck on the grounds that "there is no permission from the governor's office," detained the truck driver, the driver's nephew, and Ömer Turhan, who voluntarily took part in the distribution of aid, according to reporting by the Mezopotamya News Agency.  

According to witnesses, the police battered HDP Osmaniye provincial co-chair Celal Eker. There was a clash between the protesters and the police.

In his Twitter post, HDP Deputy Peköz stated that “while the aid was going to be distributed in front of our party building, the security forces beat the people and took the truck to an unknown place and prevented the distribution.”

As of Feb. 12, some 29,605 people have yet lost their lives, and approximately 80,000 others have been injured in two major earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey early on Feb. 6. 

147,934 people have been evacuated to other provinces.

From the first day onwards, the ruling AKP-MHP coalition has been trying to monopolize aid distribution in the hands of the state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).