CHP reacts to Abdülkadir Uraloğlu's WhatsApp comments: 'Desperation and lack of vision'

CHP Mersin Deputy Gülcan Kış criticized the statement made by Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu on social media following the 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Sındırgı, Balıkesir, in which he said, "We recommend that our citizens use applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Bip."

DESPERATION AND LACK OF VISION

In a written statement, Kış noted that communication infrastructure collapses during earthquakes and crisis management fails, stating, "For a minister to come out and say 'use WhatsApp' on a matter that concerns the lives of millions of people is incompatible with the seriousness of the state. Disaster management cannot be conducted through social media recommendations. This is a confession of desperation and a lack of vision. As long as the problem is not solved at its root, we will experience the same helplessness in every earthquake. Earthquakes do not kill; negligence kills. The public is paying the price for these acts of negligence. The breakdown of communication during a disaster means the breaking of the search and rescue chain. If we do not want to see the same scene in the next earthquake, we must solve this problem today, not tomorrow."

Kış added, "The February 6 earthquakes, the April 23 Istanbul earthquake, and now Balıkesir... We are experiencing the same communication collapse every time. The government still has not learned its lesson. Citizens cannot reach their loved ones during an earthquake, and crisis management cannot function. This is not a lack of technology; it is the result of negligence and irresponsibility that continues in plain sight."