Lack of Justice
Since the tragedy, criminal proceedings against officials who signed off on deadly structures have all but stalled.
Human Rights Watch researchers and Citizens Assembly, a nongovernmental organization from Türkiye, have reviewed reports and visited some of the most affected areas.
We even reviewed expert reports, commissioned by public prosecutors in regions hardest hit by the earthquakes, that identify municipal officials, alongside private contractors and builders, responsible for defects in buildings that collapsed.
As of Wednesday, Citizens Assembly has learned that permission to investigate just three public officials has been granted. Generally, authorities are refusing to provide answers.
What does this mean?
In February, Turkish media reported that 883 private developers, builders, and technical personnel are now on trial in connection with these deaths. But their defense teams are saying the authorities who authorized the work are responsible.
The lack of investigation into public officials is hampering how these cases proceed. It also helps hide how builders could flout applicable building regulations to secure permits, evade thorough inspection, and sell to the public buildings that were known to be unsafe.
One more example
HRW looked at 14 reports concerning collapsed apartment buildings, which left most of their residents dead, in one of the hardest-hit provinces. Of these reports, commissioned by provincial government authorities, only one describes serious failures by builders to adhere to applicable safety standards.
Yet municipal officials apparently turned a blind eye by issuing building permits for flawed projects, later signing off on inadequate and unsafe finished construction.
Turkish authorities should permit criminal investigations leading to prosecution of all officials responsible for earthquake deaths and those who failed to mitigate deadly risks.
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