Turkey bans layoffs, introduces benefits, amid mounting earthquake failures
The Turkish government’s new decisions come amid mounting criticism over its failure to provide a timely and organized response to the killer earthquakes.
Facing public anger over the slow earthquake response, organizational failures and tent shortages, the Turkish government introduced on Wednesday a series of new measures aimed at offsetting the killer earthquakes’ impact on working-class families.
According to a presidential decree posted on the Official Gazette, the government froze layoffs in Turkey’s 10 provinces that were affected by the earthquake. The government also introduced limited wage support for employers whose businesses sustained heavy or moderate damage and unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs after the earthquakes. The measures will remain in effect until the end of the emergency rule which the government declared in the provinces after the earthquakes.
The new measures come as the government faces growing criticism over its failure to take timely action in the face of two earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6, killing more than 46,000 people. Speaking in Hatay, one of the hardest-hit provinces, Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said Wednesday that there are still many people who were unable to reach tents in the disaster zone, where temperatures fall as low as 20 degrees.
"For God's sake, how can you not solve the tent problem in mighty Turkey and how come you are walking around claiming that you have solved the problem?” said Kilicdaroglu.
