Erdogan declares state of emergency for three months in 10 provinces

urkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces for three months, as the country reels from a powerful earthquake Monday that killed over 5,000 people across Turkey and Syria.

“We are declaring our 10 provinces where the earthquake occurred as disaster areas. We have decided to declare a state of emergency based on the authority given to us by the 119th article of the constitution in order to ensure that the search and rescue activities and subsequent studies can be carried out quickly,” Erdogan said during a televised speech Tuesday.

“With this decision, we will quickly complete the presidential and parliamentary processes.”