In light of the Turkish government’s late and inadequate response to the 6 February earthquakes, analysts from around the globe argue that President Recep Tayyip handling of the disasters will determine his political future.
The Kurdish People’s Defence Centre, the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has issued a statement calling on all its forces to obey an armistice declared by the PKK due to the earthquakes.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has lodged a criminal complaint against the executives of Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority for restricting the bandwidth of social media platforms following the earthquakes.
The HDP also made an urgent call for shelter to be provided to earthquake victims, and the leader of the main Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) condemned the lack of provisions for those affected by the disaster.
The head of the Democratic Alevi Foundation has claimed that the Turkish government wants to use the chaos following the earthquakes as an opportunity to push the Alevi population from the earthquake region to the big cities and impose the Sunni belief on them in an attempt to bring an end to their culture.
At least three prisoners were killed in Hatay Prison after inmates set their wards on fire, saying they were unable to contact their families and demanding to be transferred to a safer location following the earthquakes.
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