Turkish authorities have arrested the developer of a large residential building that collapsed in a devastating earthquake this week as president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faces growing dissatisfaction over the quality of construction in the region.
A contractor for a luxury flat building in Turkey’s southern Hatay province was detained at Istanbul airport on his way to Montenegro, Anadolu news agency reported. Prosecutors in Istanbul ordered the arrest after discovering the flight plan, the agency reported.
The move comes after Turkish politicians this week vowed to investigate poor building quality following the earthquake, which killed more than 21,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighboring Syria. Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said earlier this week that “all those who are negligent and guilty will be held accountable”, according to Anadolu Agency.
On Saturday, Erdoğan pledged to build hundreds of thousands of seismically safe buildings within a year in a major reconstruction effort.
“We will not leave our citizens, dead or alive, under our care
ruins. Then we’ll start clearing the debris and rebuilding
event. We are making plans to rebuild hundreds of thousands
building houses and infrastructure, or more, to establish
our cities were destroyed by the earthquake,” Erdoğan said.
“God willing, development and restoration will be completed
in a year.”
About 14,000 rescuers are making last-ditch efforts to find survivors five days after the earthquake, but the situation in some areas has worsened. Two German rescue groups were forced on Saturday to suspend operations in Hatay due to security concerns, with one citing “shots” heard in the area.
Some experts urged the government not to rush to clear the rubble to gather evidence against property developers.
Civil engineers have said that many construction projects in southeastern Turkey are being carried out with insufficient protection against ground shaking in an area known to be prone to earthquakes.
Vast national building projects have been a hallmark of Erdoğan’s two decades as Turkey’s leader, but opponents have repeatedly criticized the amnesty for shoddy construction and a preference for awarding contracts to loyalists.
Selim Koru, an analyst at Ankara-based think-tank Tepav, said he doubted there would be a broad reckoning for the construction sector because of its importance in Turkey, although some “bad apples” would be prosecuted. Construction accounts for about 5 percent of Turkey’s economic output, according to official data.
Erdoğan has faced increasing criticism over the building problems and the government’s response to the disaster, with some saying it took too long for rescuers to reach the worst-hit areas.
Turkey’s president hit out at critics on Saturday, accusing them of undermining national unity.
All Turkish universities will move to online classes for the rest of the academic year so that dormitories can be used as emergency housing for those who have lost their homes, he added.
On Friday, Erdoğan admitted that the rescuers were not moved quickly enough because of the heavily affected areas, bad weather and the rescuers and their families were also affected by the earthquake, Turkey’s worst natural disaster in almost a century.
The earthquake comes amid a hotly contested election campaign that political analysts have described as Erdoğan’s toughest since coming to power in 2003.
Even before the disaster, his approval rating had taken a heavy blow from the cost-of-living crisis, which was made worse by his unorthodox economic policies.