CHP signals it can change its candidate in Hatay
Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Group Chairperson Gökhan Günaydın made a statement regarding Lütfü Savaş, the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor who was re-nominated by the CHP for the March 31 local elections and protested during the commemoration of the first anniversary of the February 6 earthquakes.
Speaking to KRT TV channel, Günaydın said, "The protests in Hatay are not about the policies pursued by CHP during the earthquake period. They are directed towards the candidate determined by the Party Assembly of the Republican People's Party."
Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Savaş protested in the earthquake commemoration
Günaydın continued his speech as follows: "In my opinion, we need to separate these issues. Every word of our citizens protesting in Hatay has a special place for us. If you were to ask 'What did the CHP do here at the beginning of the earthquake?' They will say, 'We saw the istanbul Metropolitan Municipality by our side from the very beginning.'"
Günaydın stated that the CHP Party Assembly will convene this week and said, "The results emerging from all these protests will certainly be evaluated."
He added, "In theory, the authority responsible for nominating all candidates has the power to revise them until February 17, when the candidate lists are submitted to the Supreme Election Council (YSK). If there is such a protest in the earthquake zone, it must be evaluated. The outcome of this evaluation will be the decision of the Party Assembly. We take the issue in Hatay seriously and will bring it to the attention of the Party Assembly."
"The process of selecting candidates in Hatay is intertwined with the earthquake process. There is a great deal of pain here, and we are all deeply affected by this pain. We must hear the voice of protest arising from this human suffering. We hear it. Of course, all of us will reconsider and evaluate the matter considering this sensitivity."
Savaş, who drew criticism with his statements after the earthquake on February 6, was first elected as the Mayor of Antakya from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the local elections in 2009. When he was not nominated by the AKP in the local elections of 2014, he switched to the CHP and became the Mayor of Hatay Metropolitan Municipality. He was re-elected as mayor for the second time in the 2019 elections.
Savaş's remarks regarding the Rönesans Residence, where nearly 270 people lost their lives, had sparked great outrage.
During a television broadcast on February 10, 2023, Savaş, who defended the contractor of Rönesans Residence, Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun, made the following statement:
"That building was constructed by our former President of the Chamber of Architects [Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun]. This friend of ours is truly an idealist person. He most likely built it complying the rules, according to the earthquake regulations. We experienced a small apocalypse. Neither the municipality, nor the regulations, nor the individuals who built it should be questioned much, we would be doing them wrong."
February 6 earthquakes
On 6 February 2023, at 04:17, a Mw 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria. It was followed by a Mw 7.7 earthquake at 13:24 centered 95 km northeast from the first.
There was widespread damage in an area of about 350,000 km2, about the size of Germany. An estimated 14 million people, or 16 percent of Turkey's population, were affected. Development experts from the United Nations estimated that about 1.5 million people were left homeless. The confirmed death toll in Turkey was 53,537 and estimates of the number of dead in Syria were between 5,951 and 8,476. (Source: Wikipedia)
(RT/PE)