It was revealed in the aftermath of the 6 February devastating disaster in southeastern Turkey that the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) previous parliamentary motions on a budget for expected future earthquakes had been rejected in Turkey’s Grand National Assembly by the government in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
HDP MP Garo Paylan tabled three motions in three consecutive years to a sub-committee of the Turkish parliament and requested the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change to add the necessary budget for possible earthquakes, reports Bianet.
“Our citizens live in coffin-like houses, you cannot save our citizens from these houses without enough budget,” Paylan said in his speech dated 2020.
The lawmaker warned the sub-committee about poorly built houses and raised concern about tower blocks in Istanbul constructed under the zoning amnesty. Paylan also added that urban transformation took place only in the districts that have become an area of rent.
In his 2020 speech, Paylan asks the sub-committee to add 50 billion TL ($2,649,000) to its earthquake budget by removing unnecessary expenses.
Although Paylan tabled two more motions in subsequent years, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voted against both of them.