Turkish court arrests 43 people for provocative posts about earthquake on social media

Police identified 1161 people accused of posting provocative posts, and legal proceedings were been initiated against 657, according to the statement.

“The prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of 43 people,” the statement said.

On February 6, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria.

There were about 48,000 deaths and over 108, 000 people were injured across the ten most affected provinces in Turkey, including some casualties also in adjacent Elazığ and Batman provinces.

At least 13.5 million people and 4 million buildings have been affected. Thousands were trapped under rubble when buildings collapsed.

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change conducted damage inspections for 763,000 buildings; at least 41,791 buildings in 10 Turkish provinces were heavily damaged or destroyed, leaving about 150,000 people homeless. (ILKHA)