‘Erdoğan is responsible for Turkey’s grave COVID-19 situation’

* Photo: AA - Archive

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice Chair and Spokesperson Faik Öztrak addressed the reporters yesterday (April 12) while the party's Central Executive Board meeting was still ongoing.

Öztrak talked about a series of current issues on the country's agenda, especially the situation in the country amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine purchased from China, unemployment and the proceedings against the retired admirals who were taken into custody over a midnight declaration on the Montreux Convention.

'Who is responsible for this grave picture?'

Touching upon the spike in the COVID-19 cases and deaths, Öztrak raised concerns that "the number of daily cases ranges from 50 to 55 thousand, with an average of 250 citizens losing their lives everyday."

Noting that the situation in hospitals' intensive care units are alarming amid this increase, Öztrak said, "We are faced with the third wave."

Öztrak also referred to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who has recently said, "The serious increase in the number of cases cannot be solely attributed to the mutation. We have eased the restrictions, unfortunately."

"Who has eased the restrictions," asked Öztrak, adding:

"Who is responsible for this grave picture? You cannot answer these questions. Let us answer them.

"The one responsible for this grave picture is Erdoğan, who held jam-packed congresses to cover up his political bankruptcy. It is Erdoğan, who did not introduce measures fully or in time and who does not abide by the rules which he himself imposed in the first place."

Criticizing the crowded congresses of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan further, Faik Öztrak said, "It has been 18 days since the AKP held its congress. In the meantime, 3 thousand 477 citizens lost their lives."

Noting that "Erdoğan and his government of 'my person' did not show the necessary seriousness and sense of responsibility," Öztrak stated, "Their political fears took precedence over the nation's safety of life."

Vaccines from China

In a recent statement, the authorities in China announced that the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines developed in the country are low, underlining that this poses a problem. Until recently, Turkey has been administering only the CoronaVac vaccine of China's Sinovac company.

Within this context, CHP's Öztrak said, "22 countries, including Turkey, are using China's vaccines. While Brazil has announced the effectiveness of these vaccines as 50.4 percent and Indonesia as 65.3 percent, Turkey has announced an effectiveness rate of 83.5 percent."

Öztrak called on the Ministry of Health to share a detailed explanation for the statement made by the authorities in China.

Unemployment

Talking about the Labor Force Statistics announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for February 2021 yesterday, Öztrak said, "The TurkStat cannot call the ones who are really unemployed 'unemployed', it calls them 'underutilized labor force' instead."

According to CHP's Öztrak's statement, the number of those who work less than 40 hours per week, but are registered as employed and the ones who do not look for a job despite being ready to work, namely the real number of unemployed, has increased by 2 million 918 thousand people over the past year and reached 10 million 219 people.

"The TurkStat cannot announce these data itself, for some reason. We have to calculate them ourselves based on tax rates," he said.

He also raised concerns that the real number of employed people, namely the ones working for 40+ hours a week, has also dropped by 1 million 254 thousand people in a year and hit 25 million 86 thousand people.

"27 out of every 100 young people are unemployed. This has been the highest rate of youth unemployment so far," he added.

Retired admirals

Concluding his remarks, CHP's Öztrak also talked about the proceedings against a group of retired admirals who were taken into custody over a midnight declaration on the Montreux Convention, which sparked debates of coup, especially by the AKP and government officials.

"A journalist close to the government who leaked the admirals' declaration has confessed that this declaration was in the hands of a minister of Erdoğan before being published," Öztrak alleged.

"The admirals say that they did not use the word 'declaration' themselves. It is understood that someone worked hard till morning to make the retired admirals' statement look like a 'memorandum.'"

Öztrak called this situation "a FETÖ-style plot which goes down to the halls of the palace," referring to the "Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)", which is held responsible for the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016. (EKN/SD)