ANKARA - Stating that the government, which has not been able to reach the earthquake zones for 48 hours, is trying to camouflage its incompetence with the State of Emergency, HDP Co-Chairperson Tayip Temel said: "The government is trying to turn the earthquake disaster into an opportunity.

While awaiting bodies in the debris of earthquakes that occurred repeatedly in Kurdistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced 34 hours later that they had decided to declare a State of Emergency (OHAL) in 10 cities. Erdogan's decision is expected to be voted on in the General Assembly tomorrow.

'GOVERNMENT TURNS DISASTER INTO AN OPPORTUNITY'

Expressing that he turned the earthquake disaster into an opportunity, Temel said: "The fact that he put the state of emergency on his agenda even on the occasion of the earthquake shows that the government hopes to benefit from it. In 2016, it was said that the State of Emergency was declared to take measures, limited to the reasons that required it to be declared; however, all fundamental rights and freedoms were shelved, except for the measures required under the State of Emergency. They scrapped all rights, from freedom of expression to freedom of association, from freedom of the press to the extension of detention, from arbitrary arrests to prison conditions. The declaration of state of emergency, which also covers the election period, cannot be accepted. We are against it to the end, we will not accept this decision, we will fight it to the end."