There have been many earthquakes in Turkey with loss of life. While it was expected that those responsible would receive the heaviest penalties after the earthquakes, many cases did not yield satisfactory results and those responsible were not punished as they should have been
Since the 1999 Gölcük earthquake, there have been more than 10 earthquakes in Turkey with loss of life. However, in the Düzce, Van, Elazığ and İzmir earthquakes, a total of 151 thousand 443 buildings were reduced to rubble and 19 thousand 85 people lost their lives. After each earthquake, although it was announced from the most authoritative mouths that those responsible would receive the harshest punishment and judicial processes were initiated, no satisfactory results were obtained, and impunity became the rule in earthquake cases.
1999 Gölcük and Düzce earthquakes:
133,683 buildings collapsed in the 7.4 magnitude earthquake on 17 August 1999. 17,480 people died and 23,781 people were injured. In the 7.2 magnitude Düzce earthquake, 12 thousand 939 houses and 2 thousand 450 workplaces became unusable. 763 people lost their lives and 2 thousand 679 people were injured. Following the Gölcük and Düzce earthquakes, nearly 2,100 lawsuits were filed. 1800 of these were dropped due to legal gaps. Of the remaining 300 cases, only 110 resulted in penalties and most of these penalties were postponed. The other cases were dropped on 16 February 2007 due to the statute of limitations.
In Yalova, 173 cases were filed. Veli Göçer, whose buildings collapsed and caused the deaths of nearly 200 people, is the only person known to have been sentenced in Yalova. Göçer was sentenced to 18 years and 9 months in prison, but was released in 2011 after serving 7.5 years in prison. Lawsuits were also filed against then Yalova Mayor Yakup Bilgin Koçal as a result of the collapse of buildings he had built as a contractor and the deaths of eight people. Koçal was imprisoned in Bursa Prison for a short time. However, he and his cousin Metin Koçal, former President of the Yalova Branch of the TMMOB Chamber of Architects, were released at their first hearing. Ahmet Levent, the mayor of the town of İhsaniye, who was sentenced to 2 years in prison for being the fenni responsible of the apartment building that collapsed in Değirmendere town of Gölcük and killed 8 people, was imprisoned for 9 months due to the law of execution.
2011 Van earthquakes:
644 lives were lost and 4,152 people were injured in the first earthquake of 7.2 magnitude on 23 October. 2 thousand 262 buildings were destroyed and 17 thousand 5 were damaged. Van was shaken by another earthquake of 5.6 on 9 November. While 25 buildings, including two hotels, collapsed, 40 people lost their lives and 30 people were injured. After the earthquake, which caused devastating damage due to the building stock of the region, the first sentence was given to Tevfik Bayram, the owner of the Bayram Hotel, which collapsed in the second earthquake and killed 24 people. Bayram was sentenced to 11 years, 1 month and 10 days in prison for ‘causing the death of more than 1 person with conscious negligence’. Later, the Court of Cassation overturned the local court’s decision due to ‘the gravity of the act and the high number of people killed’. Bayram was retried and sentenced to 15 years, 6 months and 20 days in prison. However, Bayram remained in prison for 4 years and was released after a decree decree issued in 2016.
Ahmet and Mahmut Arslan, the partners of the Aslan Hotel, which was built as 6 storeys although the licence showed 4 storeys and collapsed in the second earthquake, were sentenced to 11 years, 1 month and 10 days each. The two partners were released after 2 years in prison.
In the Sevgi Apartment Building case, where 39 people lost their lives, the contractor Salih Ölmez and civil engineer Murat Kazancı were acquitted despite the prosecutor’s final opinion that the defendants should be sentenced for ‘causing death with conscious negligence’. In the case where 10 people were tried in connection with the Işık Apartment Building where 10 people lost their lives, the 6 years and 8 months imprisonment sentences given to the defendants were converted into 46,800 TL judicial fines. The sentences were divided into 24 instalments.
In the case of the 7-storey Dağ Apartment Building in Erciş, where 45 people lost their lives, the 10-year prison sentences given to contractors İrfan Dağ and Celal Yıldız and civil engineer Murat Kazancı, and the 6-year and 3-month prison sentence given to Nezir Baş, the owner of the Safa Apartment Building, where 20 people lost their lives, were also converted into judicial fines.
2020 Elazığ:
On 24 January 2020, 76 buildings collapsed and 1066 buildings were damaged in the 6.5-magnitude Elazığ earthquake. 41 people died and 1607 people were injured. The public lawsuit filed against 23 suspects for “negligently causing death and injury” regarding Dilek Sitesi, where 14 people lost their lives, continues.
Those whose houses were destroyed filed compensation lawsuits against Elazığ Municipality, the Ministry of Environment and AFAD, but Elazığ Municipality, which undertook the construction of approximately 1200 houses in Abdullah Paşa Neighbourhood, added the clause “I undertake that I will not file any material and moral earthquake compensation and similar lawsuits against all public institutions regarding my residence on the island in question, and that I will unconditionally waive any lawsuits I have filed” to the contracts.
2020 Aegean Sea:
In the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Izmir on 30 October 2020, 8 buildings collapsed and 9,49 buildings were damaged. 117 people died and 1034 people were injured. Sentences were given in 3 of the 7 cases filed in the Izmir earthquake, but the appeal processes continue.
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