Construction of 56,323 buildings started after quake: Erdoğan

ADIYAMAN

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on March 27 that they will complete the permanent residences in the earthquake region within a year and build 14,600 small industrial shops and deliver them to the tradesmen, craftsmen and operators in quake-hit regions.

“The number of residences, workplaces, village houses and hospitals whose construction has started across our country reaches 56,323,” Erdoğan said speaking at iftar with quake victims in Adıyaman province.

The government is determined to deliver 319,000 residences and village houses together with their infrastructure, public buildings, social facilities and commercial areas within one year, the president explained.

Elaborating on the post-quake reconstruction work in the province, Erdoğan said, “Regardless of the election agenda, we will not leave you alone and we will continue to personally monitor the work carried out here.”

The president stressed that they endeavor to revive the cities destroyed by the earthquake as soon as possible and restore them to their former vitality.

“We cannot bring back the lives we lost. However, we can rebuild Adıyaman in a much more beautiful and safer way than before,” Erdoğan said.

The government laid the foundations of the first phase of earthquake houses in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay provinces last week, and they laid the foundations of 4,431 residences and village houses in Adıyaman on March 27, he added.

In the past, Türkiye experienced “disgraces” after the disasters, he said and added, “Türkiye has entered a new era with us in healing the wounds of disasters, as it does in all areas.”

Erdoğan said that those who experienced earthquakes in Van, Elazığ, Malatya, Izmir, floods in Kastamonu, Bartın, and Giresun, fires in Antalya, Muğla and Manavgat, and those who benefited from the 3.3 million urban transformation projects they completed across Türkiye, are witness to this.

Stating that every day in this geography is a test, Erdoğan said Türkiye had been exposed to many tests, including natural disasters, “enemy attacks” and terrorism.

“Did we succeed in the fight against terrorism? Are there terrorists now? Where is the PKK/YPG right now? This government buried these terrorist organizations,” he said.

The government “will continue to bury them in the future, but now you are looking at it, Mr. Kemal, hand in hand with the extensions of the PKK terrorist organization in the parliament,” Erdoğan said referring to Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate and Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) which announced they will not nominate presidential candidates.