Earthquake-hit municipality faces backlash over shelter removal decision

Photo: Tents set up at the Defne Uğur Mumcu Square [Vecih Cuzdan/bianet]

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Public outrage ensued in the southern province of Hatay when the Defne Municipality sent an official letter to local neighborhood officials (muhtars), declaring that tents, containers, and prefabricated structures erected in public areas after the devastating February 6 earthquakes were deemed illegal and would be demolished.

According to the June 21, 2023 letter issued by the Defne Municipality Police Department, the shelters set up in public areas following the 3-month lasting state of emergency, which ended on May 9, are now considered illegal and will be promptly demolished using bulldozers, per Article 18 of Law No. 775 on shanties (gecekondu).

However, after intense backlash on social media, local authorities released a statement saying, "The information that the tents will be removed is not true. The ongoing works aim to prevent the illegal construction of makeshift houses and businesses on public lands."

The official letter sent by Defne Municipality to local officials

'Not even a single tent has been removed'

In an interview with bianet, Defne's mayor, İbrahim Güzel, provided some clarifications about the contentious content of the letter, illuminating that tents and containers established on public lands by citizens whose homes were demolished have not been taken down.

"We did not allow anyone to occupy municipal lands, whether it be with reinforced concrete or steel construction. ... Not even a single tent has been removed by us. What does this official letter encompass? Some people are pouring concrete here, building houses and businesses. We do not permit them", the mayor expalins.

'We are solely against permanent structures'

In response to whether the decision includes temporary structures set up by civil society organizations in the aftermath of the earthquake, Güzel stated:

"We did not say anything about those either. We are solely against permanent structures. We do not allow public property to be confiscated. These places belong to the whole public, and I cannot give them away or allow construction. Otherwise, what should I say during this time, to a citizen who has set up a tent or put a container for sheltering? I cannot and will not do that to a citizen whose house has already been destroyed."

İbrahim Güzel, the mayor of Defne

'Life is not returning to normal here'

Güzel emphasized that life has not returned to normal in the city after the tremors, which pulverized large swathes of Turkey's south and southeast, as well as parts of northern Syria.

"Life is not returning to normal here, it cannot return to normal. Go visit the neighborhoods that used to be lively before the earthquake, such as Armutlu, Sümerler, Elektrik, and Akdeniz. There is not even a single light. All buildings have been abandoned, people have migrated, they have left", the mayor said, explaining that the municipality's tax revenues have also disappeared due to the earthquake.

''The received income is only enough for the personnel ... We have no income. The municipality is also an earthquake victim, I'm trying to explain this. We have been forgotten. Initially, there was a lot of aid coming, thankfully. But now, all of it has stopped. We are left to ourselves", Güzel expressed.

The Sümerler neighborhood in the center of Defne [Photo: Vecih Cuzdan/bianet]

(VC/WM)