Kılıçdaroğlu: Disaster of the century is the one-man regime

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Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People's Party, slammed the government for its incapability following the February 6 earthquakes. He blamed the one-man regime for the tragedy.

He argued that many examples of government incapability caused thousands of more losses of life to occur.

He denounced the government for not calling the troops for rescue and coordination after the disaster, for blocking social media at the very point that it had become the primary tool people used for coordination in their rescue efforts, and for lack of coordination in the rescue and aid efforts.

Speaking in a press conference at the party headquarters, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "I saw every inch of the earthquake-hit area. I cannot forget what I have seen. It is not possible to sleep at night. I heard people crying 'where is the state' and I cannot forget."

"One-man regime is responsible"

Kılıçdaroğlu told journalists that he was feeling great pain. He had seen children who had lost their families. Mothers who had lost their children. He had listened to women crying helplessly while hearing the voices of their beloved from under the rubble.

"Not taking the necessary measures, irresponsibility, bribery, not taking any kind of responsibility... Let me be clear. This government is responsible for the death of our citizens. The one-man regime is responsible," Kılıçdaroğlu said.

"They kept soldiers waiting"

"There was no coordination whatsoever," said Kılıçdaroğlu concerning the aid efforts.

And in relation to the rescue efforts he slammed the government for not deploying military troops after the earthquake.

"What kind of cowardice is it the fear from your own soldiers? The soldiers have experience. They have the capacity to solve problems in the first 12 hours, but they held the soldiers waiting."

Social media restrictions

Their mental capacities were low but now they have lost it all. The whole coordination was run on social media.  So they restricted social media.

They took the youth, the journalists, and the scientists who raised questions under custody. They instructed the TV channels to show the disaster lighter. They pulled the microphones away from people while speaking. They think that there are only wreckages in your "destiny plan". The disaster of the century is the single-man regime for this country. It is Erdoğan.

They tried not to take responsibility while our people were dying. Their incapability claimed the lives of ten-thousands of our people.

Our people were suffering behind wreckages and they kept our soldiers waiting in their posts.

When they saw how severe the situation is they lost their already few mental abilities. The whole coordination was on social media. They restricted social media. The teams started using VPN but the requests they were able to get dropped by 60%.

Elections will be held on time

Kılıçdaroğlu also spoke about the elections and rejected the idea that the elections should be postponed after Feb. 6 earthquakes. 

He said, "Let me be very clear; the elections will be on time. The elections cannot be postponed for any reason other than war. Even then it is the parliament to take a decision. Neither the parliament nor the Supreme Election Board can postpone the elections in the case of a natural disaster. Do not even think about it." (EMK/PE)