Turkey hands over homes, shops to İzmir quake victims

İZMİR

Turkey delivers the first phase residences and shops to the earthquake victims in the western province of İzmir, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Nov. 26.

“After the İzmir earthquake, we decided to build a total of 5,074 residences and 353 shops. We promised to start delivering them within a year,” Erdoğan said, attending the earthquake housing delivery ceremony in İzmir.

“We will deliver 741 residences and shops remaining from the constructions in this region to their beneficiaries very soon. The investment amount is 750 million Turkish Liras,” he added.

The government will complete the first phase of the project, 397 houses, and will deliver them to their owners by the end of the year, the president said.

Last November, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake rattled Izmir, leaving 115 people dead and injuring over 1,000. Some 107 people were rescued alive from the rubble.

The construction of 596 residences and 145 workplaces was completed in 7 project areas in the Bayraklı district, where the buildings were demolished and around two dozen buildings collapsed.

“From the first moment of the earthquake, we not only shared the pain of İzmir but also took steps to solve their problems. Our country has the most effective and fastest disaster response plan. We can initiate search and rescue activities within minutes and aid activities within hours,” Erdoğan stated.

They would open a new stadium in Alsancak named “Alsancak Mustafa Denizli Stadium,” with a capacity of 14,000 people, Erdoğan said.

The president criticized the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) İzmir Municipality.

“We show the inadequacy of İzmir’s infrastructure in every rain. We follow the city’s quarter-century neglect of local governments with pity. You know best. Write down the promises they made in the elections, one under the other. You will find that they fulfill almost zero promises,” he stated.

Erdoğan called on voters of İzmir to reevaluate their decisions for local elections and said the government did not discriminate any provinces according to their party of municipalities.

“We do not discriminate while providing services. We carried out the works that are under the responsibility of local governments, such as drinking water, roads, bridges and subways, with the central government budget and our ministries.”