The collapse of the Isias hotel in the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman, which killed 35 Cypriots, was “a murder woven with greed and immorality”, Rusen Karakaya, the mother of one of the 24 Cypriot children who died, said on Tuesday.
Speaking outside Adiyaman’s third high criminal court ahead of the latest hearing of the trial of the 11 people held responsible for the building’s collapse, she reiterated the families of the dead’s insistence that the hotel’s collapse was “not a natural disaster” and an unavoidable consequence of the earthquakes which hit Turkey last February.
“The eyes of the people of Turkey and Cyprus are on this court. If they fail to punish this mentality which has devalued human life, it will pave the way for new tragedies. We are devastated by the pain of losing our children, teachers, and loved ones. That is why we are here. We will not give up our fight without keeping the promise we made to them – to achieve justice,” she said.
She pointed to the various scientific reports which have been conducted into the hotel’s collapse, most of which have found serious faults on the part of the hotel’s owner Ahmet Bozkurt, his family, and the various professionals who built the building and added various extensions onto it at different times.
“The Isias hotel collapsed in seconds, taking our children, families, teachers and friends away from us. However, we know this was not a natural disaster, but a murder woven with greed, immorality, and irresponsibility,” she said.
She added, “we are forced to live with the fact that we will not be able to hug them again It is clear who is responsible for tearing our hearts to pieces, and these people are not only the property owners and the technicians, but also the public officials who failed to carry out their duties”.
However, despite the families of the dead and the entire Turkish Cypriot political spectrum having called for the 11 defendants’ charges to be upgraded to those of intentionally killing the 35 Cypriots and 37 others, the Adiyaman chief public prosecutor’s office elected to only file charges for “causing death by conscious negligence”.
In court, the prosecutor said the fact that members of the Bozkurt family had previously stayed at the hotel “showed that the defendants did not accept” that it was dangerous before it collapsed.
Independent Turkish Cypriot ‘MP’ Aysegul Baybars, who was present in court as part of a 100-strong Cypriot delegation, described the decision as “strange”, and added that “in a situation where there are clear faults and there existed the foresight that the building could collapse, this decision may prove controversial”.
The day’s hearing ended with the court being adjourned until December 24, while outside court, Turkish Cypriot bar association chairman Hasan Esendagli said the chief public prosecutor’s opinion “was not a surprise”.
