The allegations that there was an attempt to remove earthquake victims who were placed in hotels by Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality after the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes on 6 February from the hotels directly after the May 14 elections found place in the press.

The right to vote and be elected is included in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is accepted as a universal right. The right to vote and be elected enshrined in the Article 67 of the Constitution is one of the most fundamental principles of democratic societies. The disrespectful and discriminatory social media posts aimed toward the earthquake victims using the election results in the earthquake zones are unacceptable.

The prohibition of discrimination on the basis of philosophical and political opinion aims to ensure that people are protected from discrimination for expressing their views or making demonstrations about existing political principles, systems, or rules, or, in its most basic form, having a different opinion or ideology. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and European Convention on Human Rights clearly prohibit discrimination on the basis of political views.

According to Article 10 of the Constitution, everyone is equal before the law regardless of their political views. Discriminating against people based on their philosophical and political views is strictly prohibited by Article 3 of the Law No. 6701 on Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye, which regulates the principle of equality and prohibition of discrimination. Article 5 of Law No. 6701, which regulates the scope of the prohibition of discrimination, stipulates that public institutions and organizations providing social assistance and accommodation services cannot discriminate against the person benefiting from these services in terms of their activities.

As a requirement of the rule of law principle, principle of equality must be respected in providing public services. As alleged, the attempt of the relevant Municipality to remove earthquake victims placed in the hotel after the elections due to their political views, constitutes a violation of the international and national regulations that guarantee the principle of equality and the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of political views.

International human rights law recognizes right to housing as one of the fundamental human rights. Within this context, everyone has the right to an accommodation befitting human dignity where they can permanently and safely carry out their daily lives. Natural disasters such as earthquakes pose a threat to the right to housing all over the world and cause temporary or permanent forced displacement of people. UN has emphasized the following regarding the right to adequate housing following disasters with resolution no 19/4 on 22 March 2012, "States and relevant actors are encouraged to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living in their broader disaster risk reduction, prevention and preparedness initiatives, as well as in all phases of disaster response and recovery. States are urged to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing without discrimination of any kind as to national or social origin, property, birth or other status, etc."

After the earthquakes that hit our country on February 6, many measures were taken by public institutions and organizations to meet the housing needs of earthquake victims; places such as public guesthouses, social facilities and dormitories have been allocated to meet the housing needs of the earthquake victims. In this context, the accommodation service provided being discontinued without compliance to the measures taken to meet the housing needs of the earthquake victims, because they exercised their right to vote, which is one of the most basic principles in democratic societies and enshrined in the Constitution, by using their political views as a justification, is an interference with the right to shelter and constitutes a violation of the principle of equality and the prohibition of discrimination.

Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye, main mission of which is to protect the right to equal treatment of persons on the basis of human dignity and prevention of discrimination in exercising the legally acknowledged rights and freedoms, has reached the decision of an ex officio investigation and is closely following the allegations.

Respectfully announced to the public.