CHP MP Özcan Purçu visited the family of Ünzile Türkmen (55) who died because of the cold weather in a tent made of nylon and canvas in Ezine province of Çanakkale.
MP Özcan Purçu, with Çanakkale MPs Muharrem Erkek and Bülent Öz, visited the family of Ünzile Türkmen who died in a tent where she resided. Meeting with Ünzile Türkmen's husband Mücahit Türkmen and other Romani citizens, Purçu said that the promises hadn't been kept.
Giving Mücahit Türkmen his condolonces, Purçu pointed out the difficulties that Romani people have been going through. Saying that a Romani citizen died in a tent in 2016, Özcan Purçu stated:
“It is 2016 now. And Romani people still freeze to death in tents. I talked about this issue in the parliament 3 weeks ago. I said that our Romani sisters and brothers live in tents, I showed pictures. We said that we will do what has to be done, because we are a powerful state. However, we still live and die like refugees. How can a person live in this place in such a cold weather? For God's sake, we have been here for only 30 minutes and our feet are frozen. How can children, elder and young people live here?”
“The state appears only when Romani people do military service”
“Please step in already. We are fed up with unemployment. 97% of our children are unemployed. We have problems in education and housing. We are done with meetings, we have to take action. I am calling for our Minister of Finance. Allocate a share for our poor people. We want to have decent lives. We don't want to die. In the next tent, there are 10 children. The state institutions aren't here. The state appears only when Romani people do military service.”
