Court acquits officials in Turkey earthquake building collapse case

A court has released the reasoning behind its acquittal of public officials and cooperative managers in the case of the Hamidiye Site collapse, which killed 148 people in Kahramanmaraş during the February earthquakes. The Hamidiye Site's two blocks crumbled in the disaster, leaving 148 dead and six injured.

The Kahramanmaraş 5th High Criminal Court sentenced contractor Ahmet Kara to 21 years in prison for "causing the death and injury of multiple people through conscious negligence." However, 15 defendants, including six cooperative board members and nine public officials from the Kahramanmaraş Municipality, were acquitted.

The court's 72-page detailed ruling cited defense statements, testimonies from victims and witnesses, and expert reports. It stated that Kara, a self-admitted contractor, was found responsible for the collapse due to manufacturing and oversight deficiencies in the building's structural system. The ruling emphasized that Kara, as a qualified architect, should have foreseen the potential for collapse, especially given Kahramanmaraş's location in an earthquake zone. His actions were deemed "conscious negligence."

Conversely, the court found insufficient evidence to prove that the cooperative's board members – Chairman Ali Kara, Vice Chairman Talat Özdemir, and members Cahit Küçükönder, Oğuz Yenipınar, Cengiz Yürürdurmaz, and Selahattin Solacak – engaged in any actions or omissions that led to the collapse or were culpable for the deaths. The ruling also noted that zoning commission decisions from 1998 and 2004, which permitted a building height of 24.5 meters and 8 floors, were cited as a reason for acquittal.