“Natural Disaster Law is a Law of Profiteering”

Residents in the Dikmen Valley and members of the Council on the Right to Shelter, a local activist group, poured out onto the streets in Ankara yesterday to protest the new "Natural Disaster Law."

Hundreds of demonstrators infuriated by the legislation gathered before Kurtuluş Park at 13:30, while many speakers who took the floor expressed their refusal to hand over their homes to the authorities.

"I shall not give my home away"

"I would rather die before I let them take my home away. Do they not have any kids? They ought not to leave our kids homeless," Sultan İkiz, a 55 year old Dikmen Valley resident whose spouse passed away due to a heart attack, told bianet.

Ankara deputy Levent Gök from the opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) also participated in the protests and delivered a speech, saying they did not oppose urban transformation but that the current legislation rather amounted to a "profiteering transformation."

Hundreds of protesters then marched from Kurtuluş Park to Ziya Gökalp Avenue, carrying banners that read "People have a right to shelter," and "Natural Disaster Law is a Law of Profiteering."

"Hands off our homes and our bodies"

The new "Natural Disaster Law" puts Turkey's shores, forests and uplands in jeopardy, said Orhan Sarıaltun, the Ankara head of the Union of Turkish Chambers of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB.)

"Wherever there is money, there will be urban transformation. They will attempt to legitimize this legislation in people's minds by scaremongering about earthquakes. This law is unacceptable," he said.

"Such levels of profiteering are on the line here that every place constitutes a disaster zone for them," said Ali Hakan, the Ankara head of the Chamber of Architects, adding they were going to keep battling the controversial legislation till the end.

"Hands off our homes and bodies, Mr. Prime Minister," said Sultan Biçersever, another local in the Dikmen Valley.

"We will resist till the end"

The new legislation will lead to much looting and plundering, according to Candaş Türkyılmaz who read a press release at the rally on behalf of the Council on the Right to Shelter.

"If they want to combat [the effects of natural disasters], it would suffice for them to implement the regulations that are already in place. Authorities have their sights fixed on our neighborhoods due to their increased value, and they want to take them over. First they will seize our homes, then they will sell them back to us. So lovely, is it not, being a mandatory customer?" he asked.

The Council on the Right to Shelter would resist the legislation home by home, street by street and quarter by quarter, Türkyılmaz also added.

"They ask us what we want. We want the most sacred thing: We want our right, and we will not let you trample on it," Türkyılmaz said.(SK)