Turkish Communists demand justice, accountability for earthquake victims

Image via the TKP

We will neither forget nor forgive. We will hold them accountable! - Communist Party of Turkey

Three years have passed…

According to official figures, which are indeed unreliable, we lost exactly 53,537 citizens in the February 6 (2023) earthquakes; and over 107,000 people were injured.

And this happened right before our very eyes.

There were so many comprehensive scientific reports prepared; the destruction, losses, and crisis we experienced had all been predicted.

The only thing needed was to take immediate action with rational planning for our people’s right to healthy shelter and life.

However, this system, which considers it its duty to allocate all resources to the capitalists, abandoned our people to death with all its cruelty before the earthquake, on the day of the earthquake, and after the earthquake, leaving them under the rubble.

The blood and guilt of our people is on the hands of the government, local governments, and the capitalists.

Those primarily responsible for the deaths of thousands of citizens have continued with their lives without even blushing, let alone being held accountable.

More than 2 million people living in the 11 provinces hit by the earthquake in the region were forced to migrate from their homes. There are still families who cannot return to their hometowns. Even though three years have passed, our fellow citizens in these provinces are still struggling to survive in container cities.

Just last month, the ruling party shamelessly treated Hatay like a movie set. Those who decorated and illuminated the city, who lit up the roads for protocol drive for the President’s arrival, the very next day surrendered the city back to darkness, mud, and filth, just as it had been for three years.

And what about the main opposition party, which was in charge of the city’s local government during the earthquake? Those who, without batting an eye, put forward the same person as mayoral candidate again, someone who bears at least as much responsibility for the loss of life as the ruling party?

They too are now carrying on with their lives as if none of this had ever happened, as if they had never mocked the people.

What about the capitalists, the representatives of this system, which is even more dangerous than the earthquake fault lines and is the biggest culprit in the deaths of our people?

While the structurally unsound buildings that caused our people to die have been their own product, they shamelessly appeared on television screens and eased their consciences by saying, “I am donating so many millions of liras.” Afterwards, they didn’t even pay that money and continued with their lives as if nothing had happened.

Now, three years have passed, and it seems they think everything has been forgotten.

But they are mistaken.

We will neither forget nor forgive the murderers of our people!

We will hold every single representative of this system accountable!

Communist Party of Turkey

Central Committee