The Turkish presidential system has made all state institutions accountable solely to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, so the president has first responsibility regarding the devastation caused by the February 6 earthquake, the co-chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) said on Tuesday.
“Profiteering, pillage, dishonesty, rent-seeking, lack of inspection, incautiousness, shortsightedness, lack of planning, disorganisation, failure in coordination, decay, lack of compassion, lack of conscience” are the main reasons behind the massive devastation caused by the disaster, Mithat Sancar said, while addressing his party’s parliamentary group.
The co-chair of the pro-Kurdish party argued that the presidential system in Turkey that entered into force in 2018 has contributed to the destruction of the tremor.
“With this system, all state institutions have been left exempt from public scrutiny, and have been made solely accountable to the president. Therefore, the president is the start and the first ring in the chain of responsibility in this destruction,” Sancar said.
The politician said that nobody should remain silent while the country faces a large-scale disaster with decades-long after affects.
“We need to talk more, question more, examine more to find the ways of becoming a country that does not collapse by an earthquake”, Sancar said.
“Following the earthquake, there is one thing the government keeps continuously insisting on, and we have to talk, question, examine and call it out in order to prevent it. What is it? It is repressing the society’s energy for solidarity and helping out each other instead of expending it, making it ineffective and seizing it,” the politician added.
