People who lived through the November 12, 1999 Duzce earthquake in rented houses, spent the anniversary of that earthquake in Ankara under detention.

They were detained on Tuesday at the Abdi Ipekci Park, questioned at the Ankara courthouse on Wednesday and then released. The 45 earthquake victims now face up to five years in prison for violating Turkey's assembly and demonstration laws.

The earthquake victims went to the Prime Ministry on Tuesday to deliver a petition. They then invited the prime minister and the president over for iftar that evening. However, as they were waiting for the prime minister and the president, they were faced with special police teams.

According to Erbay Yucak from the Earthquake Victims Association, the victims had invited Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to their tent at the Abdi Ipekci Park. Erdogan had earlier said, "spend iftar (dinner for ending the fast during muslim ramadan) with the poor," and the victims took that seriously. However, the prime minister did not come but instead sent the police.

What do the earthquake victims want?

Four hundred earthquake victim families from Izmir and 3,100 from Duzce, who lost their rented houses during the earthquakes, founded the "Homeless Earthquake Victims Solidarity and Housing Construction Cooperative," in an attempt to find a solution to their problems.

These families could not benefit from the houses built for earthquake victims by the state because those houses were given to the landlords, not the tenants. They still live in prefabricated houses, damaged buildings or

tents.

The homeless earthquake victims applied to the Prime Ministry on September 2.

The victims made an application and demanded that the reserved plots with infrastructure in Duzce are allotted to the cooperative. They also asked for a ten-year mortgage.

Some 1,500 earthquake victims came from Duzce to Ankara on September 2 to get a response to their application. After waiting in front of the Prime Ministry for four days, they were promised "a solution in 10-15 days" and told they would "soon receive a response." So they returned to Duzce.

They did not get any response and came back to Ankara many times after September 2. Lastly, they came back to Ankara on the 72nd day of their application.

On rumors that the reserved plots would be granted to contractors, this time they were determined to wait for a response in Ankara.

The tents they had set up during their former visits were ripped off, so they slept on cardboards at the Abdi Ipekci Park. Soon, they were banned from staying at the part and they were detained on November 11.

Solution for those with no property

"Although Ankara does not permit this, the earthquake victims live in tents in Duzce," said Erbay Yucak. "They gather in tents every evening during iftar and talk about ways to solve their problems."

"People, who do not have any property, live in prefabricated homes or evacuated damaged buildings. They found a legal solution for their problems and tried to share this with the government but they hit a wall of intolerance," he added.

Yucak is sure they will overcome this wall of intolerance because the "Earthquake Victims Associations," and the "Cooperative" are widely supported and because the people have developed a practical and legal solution to the problem. "Those with no property will succeed in solving their own problems," said Yucak. (EK/EA/NM)