Minister Özhaseki became very angry when he heard that phrase: 'May God punish them'

Attending a TOKİ key handover ceremony in Kocaeli, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki shared the latest figures for the earthquake zone. Minister Özhaseki said, "With the homes we will distribute tomorrow, we will have delivered about 75 thousand housing units. While we are struggling like this, some people not only try to hinder us but also do not refrain from throwing insults at the same time."

Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki attended the TOKİ Sekbanlı-Sepetçi Project Area key handover ceremony. Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Özhaseki said, "There are two tasks that occupy us more in this period. One is to heal the wounds and eliminate the traces of the greatest disaster that could happen in our thousand-year Anatolian civilization—whether you call it the disaster of the century or the disaster of the century that occurred on February 6—I am stating my personal opinion, we have a great effort to do so.

This occupies us quite a bit. Then, naturally, we are in a struggle to make our cities more resilient against approaching earthquakes and to make our homes and workplaces safer. This issue also, of course, tires us tremendously, and we continue to be occupied with them. Mentioning the February 6 earthquake, Minister Özhaseki said, "We had a fellow minister in every city and district of the earthquake zones. We had AFAD officials, our governors, and our district governors. I, for one, was the deputy chairman responsible for municipalities," he said.

"MAY GOD PUNISH THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN RENT-SEEKING TRANSFORMATION"

Stating that 810 of the 1,390 municipalities, large and small, belong to the AK Party, Minister Özhaseki said, "We called our friends one by one and assigned them, saying, 'Your teams should do your urgent work, but all of you will go there.' Many foreign mission chiefs we encountered in those days have always expressed, 'If a quarter of this earthquake had happened to us, we could not have handled it.' 

We are at peace with our conscience. We are doing our best, but there were also 'earthquake tourists' at that time. The well-known municipalities came to those regions only a few days later with private jets. The inside is full of an army of press. They took social media influencers with them on their private jets.

After landing, they took them to one or two tents. They took selfies there, left, and went away. May God also grant them goodness. They continue their lives in such oddities in every period anyway. You try to do urban transformation, and they say, 'Sir, we are not against urban transformation, but against rent-seeking transformation.' I said recently in the budget negotiations in Parliament, 'I am sick of it; do not say this word. 

Enough for 20 years. Do one urban transformation, what happens? Is there anyone telling you to do rent-seeking transformation?' May God punish those who engage in rent-seeking transformation. What does rent-seeking transformation mean? You have big municipalities, you have resources. Come on, do one. Do a proper urban transformation. At least do not try to hinder it. No, if they cannot hinder it, they file lawsuits. It continues in other ways afterwards. What can we say, some strive to do work, to leave a legacy, they struggle to do a good deed, while others struggle just to hinder. This world continues like this anyway," he said.

"WE WILL HAVE DELIVERED ABOUT 75 THOUSAND HOUSING UNITS"

Stating that they have not been idle since the February 6 earthquake, Minister Özhaseki said, "We worked day and night. Not even a second of ours passed empty in those regions. We have more than a thousand construction sites. About 300 thousand constructions are currently ongoing. We are building 50-100-150 steel-framed houses in 4 thousand 333 villages.

We are delivering those houses from one end. We started in city centers. We have started construction again in the city centers, in the buildings on the main streets opening to those centers, in order to give them an identity, and we are delivering them on the one hand. With the homes we will distribute tomorrow, we will have delivered about 75 thousand housing units.

While we are struggling like this, some people not only try to hinder us but also do not refrain from throwing insults at the same time. About a month ago, the leader of the main opposition was shouting, 'Where are these houses?' 'Your success is zero here,' they say something, he has a sign in his hand. Another party leader has come out and says, 'Who did you give the houses to? You are giving them to 100 percent AK Party members, you are distributing them to your own people, right?' and so on," he said.

"WE HAVE A THOUSAND CONSTRUCTION SITES"

Regarding what a deputy chairman said without naming names in the first days of the earthquake, the Minister said, "I do not want them to be too uncomfortable during the month of Ramadan, and our hearts are burning because of what they said, but they were saying this; 'This government will be buried under the earthquake.' My brother, people are dying, what does it have to do with whether the government stays or goes? We are all in a state of mobilization. We were there for months. Our friends, our metropolitan mayors, were there for months with their hair and beards all tangled up. They have other worries. We started building houses on hard ground 1 month later, as the scientists described, those who said, 'What is your hurry? Why are you starting the houses?' have now started to say 'Where are the houses?' Then they started saying 'You are distributing them to your relatives' and so on. We made an open announcement to all of them. Look, right now, with what we will distribute tomorrow, our 75 thousand houses are ready and we are distributing them. 

Come, let me show you. We have a thousand construction sites. We are working there with an army of 110 thousand people. We have set up construction sites in 4 thousand 333 villages and are building houses, 50-100 of them, and they are beautiful houses. I even fell into their tongues because I said they were beautiful houses. They are truly beautiful houses, steel-framed houses. People might not have the economic power to have them built on their own, but the President's instruction is; 'First of all, since we are doing it, let us do the best one. Secondly, let it be resistant to earthquakes.' These houses are being built without sparing any expense, but unfortunately, the tongues of these friends of ours are a bit dirty. 

They continue to engage in politics even over this earthquake. I wish politics were not done over the earthquake. These friends sometimes do not know what is coming out of their mouths, what they are saying, and sometimes we struggle, we tell them, but they do not want to understand what we are saying at all," he said.

"WE ARE PROVIDING RENT ASSISTANCE"

Stating that Turkey is an earthquake zone, the Minister said, "Scientists say that there are 5 risky countries on the line starting from the Himalayas and continuing towards the Alps. One of them is Turkey, the Anatolian geography. There are still nearly 500 fault lines that have not broken yet. When will they break, at what time, with what intensity, what kind of damage will they leave? We have no way of knowing this, but there is one thing we can know. To know that these earthquakes can happen at any moment and to act accordingly. On one hand, we are running in the earthquake zones, trying to heal those damages. We are providing rent assistance to almost 320 thousand families. We must finish their houses so that they can return to their hometowns, sit in their own places, and there are nearly 600 thousand of our brothers and sisters staying in container cities. Hopefully, from now on, we want to deliver 10-15 thousand housing units there every month and bring them to their healthy structures," he said.

"A FASHION OF 'PERCEPTION MUNICIPALISM' HAS EMERGED"

Speaking about the TOKİ Kocaeli İzmit Sekbanlı Sepetçi Project, Minister Özhaseki said, "A beautiful service has been done here today as well. Our TOKİ president also said, there were minor deficiencies. Our friends are already fixing them, but let us know, even if you buy a brand new house, you will encounter minor problems that arise at first. The elevator may break down one day, the second day there may be something with the light switch. As a brother of yours who has served as a metropolitan mayor for 5 terms, every time an election came, I would appear before the nation and say, 'Look, you gave me an authority, you gave me a seal, you gave me a budget, and I did these things in 5 years; my power was enough for these. If you allow me, I want to do these things in the coming period.' Could there be anything more reasonable, more legitimate than this? The nation evaluates it. 

He would look at everyone and say, 'Okay, let this man continue,' and I would continue. Of course, they would also increase my vote. May God be pleased. My responsibility would increase, but now there is a new municipalism fashion that I cannot understand at my age. They call it 'perception municipalism,' and Istanbul is already leading it. The money allocated for urban transformation is under 500 million, but the money given to agencies for perception operations is around 890 million liras. At least the money you allocated for urban transformation should have been equal to the money you allocated for advertising. I really have difficulty understanding this. So what do those agencies do? They arrange influencers. 

They find powerful men on social media accounts, they give money. So what do those who receive that money do? The president sits, they applaud, he stands up, they applaud, he laughs, they applaud, he lies down, they applaud. He goes on vacation, they show it as if he is working. He does not do the work, they show it as if he is doing it. I swear I could not understand this municipalism. Such an understanding is not a correct understanding. All of these will pass, but what is permanent is the works here, what has been done. Hopefully, from now on, under the leadership and guidance of our President, we will continue with service and work-oriented municipalism," he said.