After ordering the detention of 113 people, Turkey has resolved to properly investigate anyone accused of being accountable for the structures’ collapse during the country’s devastating earthquakes.
The collapse of some of the thousands of structures that were leveled in the 10 provinces devastated by the quakes on Monday has been linked to 131 suspects, according to Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay, who spoke late on Saturday.
113 of them have detention orders, according to Oktay, who briefed media.
“We will closely monitor this until the required legal process is complete, especially for buildings that sustained significant damage and structures that resulted in fatalities and injuries.”
In the meantime, Turkey’s justice minister has vowed to hold those accountable accountable, and prosecutors have started collecting samples from buildings to serve as proof of the building materials.
Although the earthquakes were strong, the magnitude of the damage is being attributed to poor construction by victims, professionals, and citizens across Turkey.
According to the assessment of more than 170,000 properties, the region’s 24,921 structures had either fallen or suffered severe damage, according to Environment Minister Murat Kurum.
Six days after the catastrophe, which had affected Turkey and sections of Syria, rescuers were still searching for survivors amid the wreckage. Over 29,000 people have died, and more are certain to follow.
The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come under fire from opposition parties for allegedly failing to enforce construction codes and misusing special fees that were imposed in the wake of the last significant earthquake in 1999 to strengthen buildings.
According to the state-owned Anadolu news agency, state prosecutors in Adana demanded the arrest of 62 persons as part of a probe into collapsed structures, while prosecutors in Diyarbakir wanted the arrest of 33 people for the same reason.
According to the report, four people were detained in Osmaniye and eight in Sanliurfa in connection with the destruction of structures that were thought to have flaws, such as columns being removed.
As he was about to board an aircraft for Montenegro on Friday night, the developer of one residential complex that collapsed in Antakya was detained by police at Istanbul Airport. On Saturday, a formal arrest was made.
The 249 apartments in the upscale, 12-story residential building were finished ten years ago. Information regarding the casualties in that building was unavailable.
According to Anadolu, the accused guy admitted to prosecutors that he did not know why the complex collapsed and that his wish to travel to Montenegro had nothing to do with it.
He was cited as adding, “We followed all legal requirements,” by Anadolu. “All permits were acquired.”
Erdogan previously recognized that the considerable damage made the early response difficult.
According to him, the worst-affected area had a diameter of 500 km (310 miles) and was populated by 13.5 million people.
