TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan reacts to AKP's 'it's not about money' claim: The mother's lifestyle was targeted

In İzmir, 5 siblings aged between 1 and 5 lost their lives in a fire that broke out in a shack. The children's mother, who made a living by collecting scrap, had left the house at that time to collect her daily earnings. Their father had been in prison for 1.5 years.

Following the tragic event, statements made by the AKP included phrases such as "it's not about money" and "the problem is the family's lifestyle." 

TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan expressed his reaction in a statement on his X account. 

In his statement, Okuyan emphasized that the children died due to poverty, saying, "We are tired of an exploitative class that has seized all the country's resources, and the politicians who have become a part of that class, constantly and boastfully throwing the 'charity money' they set aside from public resources into people's faces." Okuyan's post is as follows:

"Five children died in İzmir. From poverty. The minister said, 'we were giving money, the problem is the mother's lifestyle,' without any shame. What are you debating! The state of the vast majority of our citizens is clear. What does 'we helped' mean? Who are you, and who are you helping?

Now, constitutional debates will begin. If a country cannot provide its citizens with humane living conditions, what kind of Constitution is this? This is not done through aid, but by providing people with education, healthcare, jobs, culture and arts, heating, and housing. It is done through widespread and egalitarian measures for the needs of children and the elderly. 

We are tired of an exploitative class that has seized all the country's resources, and the politicians who have become a part of that class, constantly and boastfully throwing the 'charity money' they set aside from public resources into people's faces. The mother says, 'I did not receive money.' Let's assume she did. What difference does it make? 

If they weren't ashamed, they would call the poverty of millions of people a 'lifestyle' too. They used to talk nonsense by saying, 'work and you will have it too.' Now it is 'lifestyle.' Yes, when miners go underground and then come back to the surface with their lifeless bodies, this is a 'style'; when retirees are stuck in their homes due to lack of money and count the days under a blanket, this is a 'style'; young people who choose suicide due to unemployment have their own 'style'... The 'style' of the people is collecting paper on the streets, working 12-13 hours a day for mere survival, and thinking deeply in the face of accumulating bills... 

Well, have you ever looked at your own 'style'? I will write it if I find the appropriate word!"