After the February 6 earthquakes, no one resigned or was held accountable for this great destruction. There are still not enough tents and container areas for earthquake victims, the health crisis continues to grow with new problems. There is no education service, there are no mechanisms to protect women whose problems are growing exponentially… Publishing a statement in Hatay on the occasion of the second month of the earthquakes, Halkevleri, the Peoples Houses, the left people’s organization, listed seven urgent demands for the people
In the second month of the February 6 earthquakes, Halkevleri, People’s Houses, published a statement together with the earthquake victims in Hatay and listed seven urgent demands. In the declaration made with the participation of Halkevleri managers, volunteers, and residents in the tent area in Aşağıokçular Neighborhood of Defne district, incense, and candles were lit in memory of those who lost their lives in the earthquake. The banner at the site read, “We will take what is rightfully ours! We will build a new life out of the ruins!”
Hatay Community Center administrator Özlem Mansuroğlu said that two months after the earthquake, even the most urgent needs of the people, such as temporary shelter, water, food, health, and education, have still not been met, and that the city has turned into a construction site by dust as if no one is alive.
“We do not accept to be left in ruins, to be ignored while our country is being rebuilt. This city is ours! This country is ours! We are the ones who will rebuild our country!” said Mansuroğlu, explaining the seven urgent demands of the people affected by the earthquake:
1. WE WANT A LIVABLE CITY AND OUR RIGHT TO HOUSING!
Regardless of the damaged status of their home, every earthquake victim who requests should be provided with temporary living spaces where they can live humanely. In the reconstruction process, the people should not be indebted to regain their lost homes, the damage caused by the demolition should be fully covered, and social housing and lodgings should be built for tenants and employees. We need an approach that is compatible with nature, that ensures the people of the region are not forced out, that preserves social and spatial memory and cultural heritage, that is resistant to climate change, takes the current structures of urban and rural areas into account, offers appropriate localized solutions and establishes the infrastructure of economic revival.2. WE WANT OUR RIGHT TO HEALTH!
In order to protect public health, qualified therapeutic health services should be provided, health services should be made accessible to the widest population through mobile services, preventive health services should be prioritized, infrastructure problems against infectious diseases should be eliminated, clean drinking and potable water, hygienic showers and toilets should be provided, regular spraying should be done. In order to reduce the dust exposure of the public during rubble removal operations. The articles of the Regulation on the Demolition of Buildings should be applied, rubble should be dumped away from the residential areas and water basins.3. WE CAN’T MAKE ENDS MEET. WE DON’T WANT TO LIVE WITH DEBT!
A minimum living wage should be given to everyone who lives in the earthquake zone and has lost their income or does not already have an income; credit, credit card, and tax debts should be erased; electricity, drinking, and potable water, natural gas, telephone, and internet should be provided free of charge.4. WE WANT OUR RIGHT TO EDUCATION!
In order to compensate for the losses of the students living in the earthquake region, educational activities, hygiene, and proper housing conditions should be installed urgently by providing compensation programs. Special additional quotas should be opened for our students who live in the earthquake region and who will transfer to high school and university this year. Additional points should be given in the exams, and placement priority should be given in the quotas to the earthquake victims.5. AS WOMEN, WE WANT OUR RIGHT TO LIFE!
Multilingual ‘Emergency Recourse Against Violence’ centers should be opened where women can apply against rights violations, ŞÖNİM organizations where they can receive support against violence, and women’s shelters should be opened. Family Court Judges should be appointed so that women and children can take protection and removal measures applied against all kinds of violence. The care work placed on women’s shoulders in disaster areas should be collectivized, and joint laundries, soup kitchens, and nurseries should be opened. Free pads for women, pregnancy tests, and birth control method products should be provided free of charge.6. WE WANT AN URGENT APPOINTMENT!
Provided that priority is given to earthquake victims, the appointment of all professionals who want to work in the earthquake region or who have to leave the city due to the earthquake, especially in the field of education and health, should be made urgently without any requirement to enter the exam.7. WE WANT JUSTICE!
All those responsible for the grave destruction of our cities and the deaths of tens of thousands of people (public and private) must be identified immediately, their trials must be conducted in a transparent manner that will ease the public conscience, and the perpetrators must be punished for what they deserve.We see these demands that need to be urgently fulfilled;
Groups of capital that multiply their wealth and profits while the people are dispossessed, impoverished, and experiencing disasters in order to provide the necessary material resources must be taxed or expropriated. Basic sectors and public services must be established.In this whole reconstruction process, we want the establishment of mechanisms open to wide participation, in which the people have a say and have the authority and decision on issues that concern their own lives!
We will take what we deserve!
We will build a new life from among the ruins!
“No one will give us our right unless we fight”
Speaking after the announcement of the demands, Eylem Mansuroğlu, the director of Hatay Community Center, also emphasized the problems of education after mentioning that temporary housing facilities in the city are still inadequate and that there is a serious health problem due to excavation works. Reminding that educational activities have not yet started in the city, Mansuroğlu said that 8th and 12th grade students in the earthquake region should be supported with programs such as additional quotas and additional points in high school and university transfers.
Mansuroğlu said:
“Of course, we know that what we want will not be fulfilled immediately just because we demand it. But we also know that no one will give us our rights unless we fight, take a resilient stance and defend our rights.”
“We call on all the good-hearted people of Turkey. As we struggle to build a new life among the ruins, we know that your hearts are with us. We are not just struggling to create a new city. We are fighting for the reconstruction of a new country among these ruins, for the restoration of our usurped rights. The struggle we are waging today in Antakya to regain housing, education, health, and all our rights that have been violated is actually the struggle of the whole country.”
Referring to the violence suffered by those who protested the dumping of asbestos rubble into their living spaces in Samandağ in recent days, Mansuroğlu said, “We are not simply fighting for survival. We are also objecting to the state ignoring the people and committing violence when the people object to its decisions.”
Mansuroğlu concluded his words as follows: “We say it once again on the 60th day. We will recreate this city. Each of us will rebuild a life by taking care of each other, knowing our rights, demanding our rights, and fighting until we win. This will be a light not only for Hatay but also for the whole country.”
MB Sendika.Org News / Hatay