Malatya Governor bans commemorative events on quake anniversary

Duvar English

Malatya Governor's Office banned all indoor and outdoor commemoration events/activities for the anniversary of the Feb. 6 earthquakes and all vehicles and individuals traveling to support these events from entering the province for three days.

Turkey’s southeastern Malatya province was one of the regions devastated by the earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6 that killed more than 53,500 people.

The governor’s office announced that only public institutions would be allowed to hold events between Feb. 5-7. 

The February 6 Platform, formed by political parties, trade unions, and professional organizations in the province, had previously announced that a commemoration program would be held at 04.17 when the first earthquake occurred, and a march would be organized later.

Speaking on behalf of the platform, Nevzat Millioğulları, President of the Education Workers’ Union (Eğitim-Sen) Malatya Branch, said, "In the ancient culture of Anatolia, such bans are shameful. This is our constitutional right, no one can prevent our commemoration event. Tomorrow we will go out, we will hold our commemoration event at the place we have announced."

The Chamber of Geological Engineers had also announced that it would organize a commemoration conference in Malatya with the participation of veteran seismologist Naci Görür as a speaker.

In Malatya, 1,237 people lost their lives, 6,643 buildings were destroyed and 35,907 buildings were severely damaged.

Schools in five provinces canceled in quake region

The governors' offices of Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Antep, Malatya, and Hatay provinces announced that education would be suspended for one day on the anniversary of the earthquakes.

Along with the public institutions, many civil society organizations and initiatives announced that they would organize several commemoration events in the 11 provinces that were struck by the quakes.