Up to surveyors: mass arrests of builders of collapsed housing are underway in Turkey

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag vowed on Wednesday to take action against negligence and shortcomings following the deadly earthquakes. Specifying that the priority now is to save people trapped under the rubble, the head of the Ministry of Justice promised: “After that, a lawsuit will follow. All those who showed negligence and were at fault will be held accountable.”

Without shelving the case, the Ministry of Justice instructed prosecutors in 10 Turkish earthquake-hit provinces to set up “Earthquake Crimes Investigation Units” on Saturday.

The department warned that efforts will be made to identify contractors, technically responsible persons and inspectors of destroyed buildings, as well as other persons who may be responsible for the improper construction of real estate (including surveyors and other experts). And prosecutors have already begun collecting building samples to obtain evidence of the materials used in the construction. At the same time, the authorities made sure that the suspects did not run away from justice and failed to destroy the evidence.

It is easy to assume that the government’s brutality in turning its wrath on unscrupulous developers and their ilk was a reaction to public outrage spreading on social networks over construction companies and their inability to comply with building standards that could significantly reduce catastrophic losses from earthquakes.

Technically, Turkey has building codes introduced after the devastating earthquake in 1999 that meet modern seismic standards, but the disaster has shown that they are too rarely applied, which explains why thousands of buildings toppled on their sides or collapsed on top of their occupants. It is clear that the earthquakes were quite powerful, but victims, experts and people all over Turkey blame the poor construction in the scale of destruction and casualties. Accusations are being poured against contractors that for the sake of savings (and therefore their own income) they saved on everything they could, “cutting corners” during construction and violating standards. For example, they “chemiated” with concrete and used cheaper metal fittings.

Now, Erdogan’s opponents are blaming his Justice and Development Party for the fact that at one time, as part of the struggle for economic growth, the authorities issued legal exceptions (the so-called “construction amnesties”) for real estate built without proper security certificates. On the one hand, it solved the housing problem and contributed to the construction boom. And on the other hand, tens of thousands of people have already been buried under their ruins at houses that are “understretched” according to seismological requirements. And the residents of many buildings in other areas – and at least in the same Istanbul – are wondering if their shelter will withstand underground strikes in the future. In the end, experts warn: Turkey is one of the five most seismically dangerous countries in the world.

So the authorities, especially on the eve of the elections scheduled for May, which experts call the “examination of political survival” for President Erdogan, have to act as quickly and harshly as possible. Moreover, the switching of people’s anger to careless builders will let off steam in connection with dissatisfaction with the way rescue and search operations were organized.

Turkish justice officials have identified more than 130 people allegedly involved in poor-quality and illegal construction methods – but, apparently, many more people will be brought to justice.

In the province of Malatya alone, prosecutors on Monday decided to arrest 31 people as part of an investigation into buildings that collapsed in last week’s deadly earthquakes.

Turkish media share lists of detained contractors and developers. Police have arrested Hasan Alpargun in Northern Cyprus after several buildings built by his construction company collapsed in the southern province of Adana. The prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for Alpargun on suspicion of negligent manslaughter and other charges.

Contractor Ibrahim Mustafa Uncuoglu was arrested in Istanbul after a technical examination of the wreckage of a residential building in Gaziantep Province showed negligence and the use of substandard materials during construction.

Istanbul police arrested another contractor, Mehmet Ertan Akay, after a building he helped collapsed during the earthquake in Gaziantep. Prosecutors, after reviewing evidence collected under the rubble of the complex he built, issued an arrest warrant for Akai on charges of negligent manslaughter and violation of building codes.

Two representatives of a construction business were detained in Gaziantep on suspicion of cutting down load-bearing columns to make room for a collapsed building, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Mehmet Yasar Koskun, a contractor for a 12-story residential building in the disaster-hit province of Hatay, was also taken into custody on Saturday. According to the press, the building with 250 apartments was completely destroyed. Dozens of people are believed to have died in the collapse of the house. Law enforcement officers detained a man at the Istanbul airport on his way to Montenegro while trying to escape from Turkey. The contractor claimed that he did not know why the building collapsed and that his flight overseas had nothing to do with the collapse. According to him, the building was properly licensed and inspected by local authorities and representatives of the central authorities.

A contractor believed to be responsible for the destruction of several buildings in Adiyaman province was also detained at Istanbul airport on Sunday. Yavuz Karakush, who was heading to Georgia, justifies himself: “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were destroyed. I did everything by the rules.”

The Daily Sabah edition cites the expert opinion of Altynbash University professor Sepent Naimi, who emphasizes the need for a comprehensive check of the entire construction fund existing in the country and the importance of banning unplanned and illegal construction. Professor Naimi stressed that investing in earthquake preparedness requires a significant amount of effort and resources, but is worth it in the long run: “The costs we incur today may not be shown on the balance sheet, but when we look at the consequences of not being we cannot compensate for the loss of lives at any cost. Money can be returned, but lost lives can never be returned.”

According to Naimi, the main problems are related to old and out of control buildings, especially those built before 2000, which pose a significant threat. He suggested that the state should increase its support and quickly inspect the existing building stock, focusing on strengthening or rebuilding unstable buildings.

The expert’s remarks sound relevant – after all, it is necessary to solve the problem of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Turkish residents, who suddenly found themselves without a roof over their heads. President Erdogan recently pledged to erect hundreds of thousands of seismically safe buildings within a year as part of a massive renovation effort.

“We will not leave any of our citizens, dead or alive, under the rubble. Then we will quickly begin to clear the rubble and restore it. We are making plans to rebuild hundreds of thousands of homes and infrastructure, or rather rebuild our cities that were destroyed by the earthquake,” Erdogan said. “With God’s help, we will complete the construction and restoration work within a year.”

If the Turkish builders are able to meet the deadlines, honor and praise be to them. The main thing is that the speed of housing construction does not affect their strength. And the next earthquake did not have to look again to blame for the collapse of buildings.