Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency for Turkey’s 10 southern provinces hit by devastating earthquakes. He called the region a disaster zone, in a move aimed at bolstering rescue efforts. The measure comes as the death toll from Monday’s two major earthquakes (6), which hit a wide area of Turkey and Syria, exceeded 5,000 and while rescue teams raced against time to pull people out of the rubble of the buildings that collapsed. Declaring a state of emergency allows the president and cabinet to override parliament in enacting new laws and limit or suspend rights and freedoms as they deem necessary. “We have decided to declare a state of emergency to ensure operations are carried out quickly,” Erdogan said in his second speech since the first earthquake yesterday morning. He stated that the state of emergency will last for three months – meaning it will end just before presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14. The period may be extended. Erdogan previously declared a national emergency in July 2016 after a failed military coup. He said 70 countries had offered help in search and rescue operations, and that Turkey planned to open hotels in the tourist hub of Antalya, to the west, to temporarily house people affected by the earthquakes. According to the president, the death toll in Turkey has increased to 3,549. *Reproduction of this content is prohibited.
Agência Brasil
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