Türkiye earthquake trial begins amid anger and tears

The families addressed the court one by one, sobbing as they mentioned the names of their relatives who were killed when their upscale housing complex in southern Turkey collapsed during a powerful earthquake last year.

One woman, whose son died in the collapse alongside his wife and their 3-year-old son, attacked the accused – the men who built the complex and the inspectors charged with making sure it was safe.

“Shame on you,” said the woman, Remziye Bozdemir. “Your children are alive, my children are dead.”

Thursday's hearing was the first aimed at demanding accountability for the Renaissance Residences collapse, one of the most catastrophic building failures during the February 6, 2023 earthquakes, which destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings and killed more than 53,000 people across the South. turkey.

More than 300 people died inside Al-Nahda, and many more were injured. A forensic investigation and analysis by The New York Times found that a tragic combination of poor design and minimal oversight had left the building vulnerable, eventually flattening its 13 floors.

Since the quakes, many survivors' anger has focused on lax construction practices that allowed many faulty buildings to rise across a region with a history of strong earthquakes. When the ground shook last year, many buildings turned into death traps, swooping down on their residents, killing them instantly or trapping them alive inside the rubble.

In recent months, Turkish courts have begun hearing cases seeking to determine liability for the deadly collapses. The Ennahda trial is one such case, and it illustrates what victim advocates say are the limits of justice in the post-earthquake era.

Eight men – four from the construction company and four employees of a private building inspection company – are accused of causing foreseeable death and injury through negligence for their roles in building the complex. All eight pleaded not guilty.

Missing from this issue are any of the many government officials who allowed the complex to be built by subdividing the land, approving building plans and issuing building permits, all together failing to ensure the project was built to withstand severe earthquakes.

Emma Sinclair Webb, Turkey director of Human Rights Watch, said this scrutiny of private construction companies, rather than government officials, undermined efforts to ensure accountability throughout the earthquake zone.

“Contractors can be cowboy builders, constructing faulty buildings, but what about the enabling environment in which they operate and the public authorities that turn a blind eye and allow them to move forward?” She said.

Complicating efforts to hold these officials accountable is Turkish law that prevents prosecutors from investigating state employees without obtaining government permission.

It remains unclear whether any public officials are being prosecuted in cases related to the earthquake.

In January, Human Rights Watch and the Citizens' Association, a Turkish human rights organization, filed requests in dozens of jurisdictions seeking information on the number of requests to investigate government officials and the number of requests that had been approved. The organizations said in a report last month that their inquiries revealed four cases in which decisions were pending and three cases in which permission to investigate was granted, although two of them have been appealed.

Most jurisdictions declined to respond, citing confidentiality regulations.

Ms Sinclair-Webb said this reduces the chances of real accountability.

“The full facts aren’t really there to consider if government officials are left out of the picture,” she said.

The Renaissance Residence grew up on a plot of converted farmland near the old city of Antakya during the building boom that swept the region in the 2000s, fueled by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan's plans for development and economic growth. By the time residents arrived in 2013, the three residential towers, connected superficially to look like one long, thin building, loomed over the countryside.

The complex was intended for the area's rising middle class, featuring a swimming pool, underground parking, and a lobby designed to mimic a hotel lobby. Many early residents considered themselves lucky to live there.

But an investigation by The Times found that despite its charming atmosphere, the Renaissance was full of risky design choices that were cast in concrete with minimal oversight, leaving the structure ill-prepared to withstand a strong earthquake.

The first earthquake of its kind occurred last year with a magnitude of 7.8, and a second strong earthquake followed hours later. The first earthquake led to the collapse of the ground floor of the Al Nahda Building, causing the building to fall on its side and destroying the lives of many of its residents.

Simile Enseli, 59, a real estate agent who attended Thursday's hearing, said she escaped the collapse with some injuries but was able to hear her nephew trapped under the rubble.

“Auntie, I can't breathe,” she recalled him saying.

His body and that of Ms. Inseelie's sister were not recovered from the wreckage. Assume they are dead.

She hoped the trial would mean long sentences for the men who built the Renaissance as well as for the officials who allowed the building to rise.

“The state did not protect our lives or our property,” she said.

Court documents say 269 people have been identified as killed in the building and 46 others remain missing and presumed dead.

The prosecution accused the eight defendants of willful negligence that caused the death and injury of many people. If convicted, they could face up to 22 years in prison.

Prosecutors accused the contractors who built the Renaissance of failing to follow building codes in effect at the time, using substandard materials and neglecting to ensure the safety of the structure. They accused the inspectors, who worked for a private company hired by the contractors, of failing to discover defects that should have been reported to the authorities.

The contractor, who was the main architect for the construction company, Mehmet Yasar Coskun, told the court on Thursday that he rejected the allegations. He blamed the collapse on the exceptional strength of the earthquake's shaking at the site.

“Since the foundation of the building was strong, the wave demolished it from the weakest point you could find, which was the ground floor,” he said. “It's an unusual situation.”

Other defendants also said that they followed all necessary regulations and attributed the collapse to the strength of the earthquake.

Their arguments failed to convince the survivors who attended the hearing.

Hafiz Acikgöz, 42, emerged from the Renaissance alive but lost her husband and three children, aged 16, 21 and 23.

“You just left me,” she said, wiping her tears. “Nothing can ease my pain and nothing can bring it back.”

However, she expressed hope that the defendants would receive the longest sentences possible.

“Shouldn't those buildings have been built keeping people's lives in mind?” She said.

Beryl Eskey contributed reporting from Istanbul.

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