Turkey: the weight of corruption in the tragedy caused by earthquakes that killed more than 30,000 people

Violation building codes and successive amnesties granted by the government to buildings erected without a license explain the huge death toll, over 30,000, in earthquakes a week ago in Turkey, according to a complaint by the College of Architects.

Emin Koramaz, President of the Union of Chambers of Architects and Engineers Turkey (TMMOB) denounced that during the 20 years that the AKP, the president’s party, was in government Recep Tayyip Erdoganthere were eight major legalizations of “unsafe, rotten and illegal” buildings that were built and occupied without proper licenses.

“The city of Hatay, the entire province, has been damaged and must be completely rebuilt. The same applies to other cities in the 10 affected provinces. Now we remember how Erdogan campaigned in these provinces in 2018,” the president says to architects and engineers.

Several Turkish media remind this Monday that during the 2018 presidential election campaign erdogan toured the areas hardest hit by the magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 earthquakes last Monday, announcing that the housing problems of hundreds of thousands of citizens had been resolved through what he called “restoring peace.”

“We have solved the problem of 205,000 residents of Hatay. […] We are solving a very important issue for our citizens in Gaziantep, as well as throughout our country,” said the president, who is running for re-election on May 14.

Through this process, thousands of buildings built without proper permits have been licensed.

Due to the location in the seismic zone of the city of St. Turkey has building codes; however, according to government critics erdogan These rules are not respected and construction companies are allowed to go unpunished due to their ties to the state side.

“In 2018, almost two decades after the great earthquake of 1999, Turkey the long-awaited law on earthquakes has finally been passed. But these rules are more enforced by non-compliance than by compliance,” Asli Aydintasbas, a journalist born in Turkey and based in the United States, wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

“Erdogan often referred to the construction industry as the jewel of the economy, encouraging a silent lack of oversight. Turkey’s big government contracts tend to go to the same government friends,” he denounces in a letter published on February 6.

earthquake taxes

In addition to pain, the devastating effects of last Monday’s earthquakes have sparked outrage among the Turkish population, who are demanding accountability for the so-called “earthquake tax” levied after the 1999 earthquake that killed 17,000 people.

The amount raised will reach 4.6 billion US dollars and, according to the law, must be directed to disaster prevention and emergency services.

“Where did all our taxes collected since 1999 go?” asked Chelel Deniz, who was quoted by the AFP agency in the city of Gaziantep. His brother and nephews remain under the rubble.

At the height of the crisis, Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul since 2019 from the opposition CHP (Social Democrat), assured that he could not guarantee the safety of city buildings and warned of the consequences of a possible earthquake in the metropolis.

Builders

A photo of a property developer detained while trying to escape from Istanbul has become a symbol of outrage in Turkey against the construction mafia accused of collapsing thousands of buildings during the earthquake a week ago.

Residential complex “Renaissance” (Renaissance) was built in Antakya, in the south Turkey, had eight floors and 250 apartments. It was built ten years ago and even had a swimming pool. Presented as a luxurious setting, the tower collapsed on top of its occupants. The fate of the Reneisans residence has become a symbolic case of abuse that has been reported for a long time.

Faced with growing outrage, reported in the press and spread through social media, Turkish authorities have quickly responded with dozens of arrests and arrest warrants, the number of which is multiplying. Last Sunday, ten people were already detained, including two developers who tried to escape to Georgia, and 114 people are on the run, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

Another case is related to the Isias Hotel in Adiyaman, where 35 members of the youth volleyball delegation of Northern Cyprus were killed. Several witnesses told NTV that the hotel was closed due to “construction violations” but has reopened. The witness said that he saw the walls break as if they were sheets of paper.

So far, corrupt builders and entrepreneurs have managed to get by despite repeated warnings from well-known engineers and architects. In 1999, when another earthquake killed 17,000 people in the northwest Turkeyin the province of Kocaeli, six months elapsed before the first arrest was made. The Milliet newspaper headlined “A total of eight arrests and 17,000 deaths.”

Subsequently, more than 2,000 cases were brought against the developers of the affected houses, but 1,800 of them ended without punishment in connection with the amnesty announced in 2000. Finally, most of the perpetrators took advantage of the prescription of crimes in 2007. (According to EFE and AFP)