We still don't know, how many Turkish citizens died in the earthquake. Thirty thousand, forty ... The destroyed houses have not yet been dismantled. How many bodies are there? Who is to blame for their death? Earthquake or builders, who built not houses on the site of tectonic faults, and matchboxes, who fell completely, killing hundreds that morning?
Turkey initiates arrests of 222 heads of construction companies, whose houses were completely destroyed during the earthquake.
Nazmi Tosun was taken, Head of Emre Apartment, who built buildings in the province of Gaziantep. The police came right at the Istanbul airport for the contractors of buildings in the city of Adiyaman, when trying to leave the country. Mehmet Yasar Koskun arrested, in charge of a block of high-rise buildings in the province of Hatay. He was also going into hiding and wanted to fly out of the country. Detained Mehmet Ertan Akay, responsible for the construction of a residential building in Hatay. There were other arrests.
But for us, this is an important issue., because since the 90s, the Turks have built more than one building in Russia. They work here for about 100 Turkish construction companies. They have already built 2 thousands of objects worth 62 billion. Turks are holding 20% construction sites. Only in Moscow 70% monolithic houses are being built by the Turks. Yes, there are no such earthquakes - thanks to our ancestors, found good places. But the situation is, that even President Putin announced it at a meeting with the judges this week.
“In Turkey, among other things, there are big claims against construction organizations, who did not work according to these standards, especially in a loan in a zone dangerous in terms of seismic processes. We have many such zones. This is in the south of the country, and in the Far East. They begin to rebuild already built houses in order to increase the number of residential areas and well, to sell extra space, naturally”, – the president said.
In the fifties of the last century, a mass migration of villagers to cities began in Turkey.. Apartments are not enough. And since the sixties, so-called building amnesties began to be carried out in the country., when poorly built houses were issued a housing license. They just took money from the developer. they, who was in Turkey, must have heard stories about houses, who build for the family. When the kids come, building another floor. Then more – as the family grows. AT 1999 year after the earthquake in Izmit, the government introduced strict standards in construction. But already in 2018, construction amnesty began again in Turkey. It was about hundreds of thousands of buildings. That is, about half of all residential buildings in the country. 13 million buildings. Thus, the problem of illegal construction was again solved in Turkey.
A photo: © REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Interesting fact: a few days before the earthquake, the Turkish media reported, that parliament is going to approve a new bill with even more benefits for building developers. In 2019, Erdogan said at a rally in Kahramanmarash province, that the building reform went well. Everything is fine. In Istanbul, certificates were issued for 319 thousand buildings. And in Kahramanmaras forty thousand certificates were issued. Yes, in that province, where these houses then fell like dominoes. But the chiefs, those who organized amnesties and held rallies are not to blame. Only developers are to blame.
Yes, OK, that central Russia is not shaking, like Turkey. Besides, we don't have any amnesties. Turkish companies work here as subcontractors and therefore the responsibility falls primarily on those Russian entrepreneurs, who hire them. Vladimir Koshelev, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Construction and Housing and Utilities of the State Duma, said this directly..
“In Russia, these things do not work, they are unacceptable and will not pass. If in Russia any object is built poorly, every customer knows – it is his direct responsibility. No amnesty will help here. The Russian company and the Russian customer always remain responsible”, – says Koshelev.
But talk to our local deputies, and they will tell you, how often do our homes get a certificate of registration, even if there are claims. Only without witnesses, because it's a case. And the Turks did not build them at all. People can live in such houses for a long time. But God forbid something happens. Because, like in Turkey, we see, the main thing in the fate of man – not an earthquake. And carelessness.
Andrey Dobrov
