TKP on 'August 17': 'Housing construction and urban plans must cease being profit areas'

On the 27th anniversary of the devastating 1999 Marmara earthquake, the Turkish Communist Party (TKP) issued a strong statement demanding fundamental changes to the current system. The party's declaration, titled 'To say never again, this system must change,' highlighted the recurring failures in disaster preparedness and response.

The TKP recalled the thousands of lives lost in the 1999 earthquake and the subsequent promises that such negligence would never happen again. However, the party pointed to subsequent earthquakes in Van and Elazığ, where hundreds more lives were lost, and disaster-prone areas were opened for development under the guise of urban transformation, creating new profit opportunities. The devastating earthquakes of February 6, 2023, which struck the same country with even greater destruction, were cited as further evidence of systemic failure.

Despite ongoing discussions and research about the potential for a major earthquake in Istanbul, the TKP asserts that no real measures have been taken. The party criticizes the continued allocation of Istanbul's land to contractors for profit, arguing that this system, which prioritizes capital over public safety and makes access to safe housing a privilege, guarantees further destruction and suffering with each new seismic event.

"Housing construction and urban plans must be removed from the realm of profit," the TKP declared. The party called for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Turkey where the economy is planned for the public good, ensuring that the pain of events like August 17 and February 6 is never repeated.