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- Sold as “a corner of paradise,” the complex’s abrupt collapse like a house of cards prompted a criminal case against eight defendants which had its third hearing on Thursday
ANTALYA: More than 18 months after a massive earthquake flattened the southern Turkish city of Antakya, the victims’ families have little faith justice will be served but say they will fight “until their last breath.”
With a huge area hit by the February 2023 quake that killed 55,000 people, the luxury Ronesans Residence apartment bloc quickly became a high-profile symbol of the construction malpractice at the heart of the tragedy.
Sold as “a corner of paradise,” the complex’s abrupt collapse like a house of cards prompted a criminal case against eight defendants which had its third hearing on Thursday.
Its list of celebrity residents included former Ghana international footballer Christian Atsu who was one of hundreds who died under the rubble of the structure built in 2013.
Days after the quake, police arrested the building’s contractor at Istanbul airport as he appeared to be fleeing to Montenegro.
Hafize Acikgoz, 43, who lost her husband and three children at the Ronesans complex, said she had “zero hope” that those responsible would be sufficiently punished.
“I don’t have any faith in justice,” she told AFP, saying she thought their apartment block, which towered over those around it, was the safest in the area.
“We were looking down on the buildings nearby.. They stood tall and ours collapsed. My family is under the ground and I am like the living dead,” she said, her eyes full of tears.
Lawyer Emine Candarli, who lives in the western city of Izmir, also lost family in Ronesans, finding the bodies of her sister, her brother-in-law and their two kids embracing each other under the ruins 11 days after the quake.
“It’s not the quake that killed my sister and her family but the contractors who sold the flats as safe and sound,” she told AFP by phone.
“That building is the result of the contractors’ fault.”
Almost all the rubble from the Ronesans complex was cleared away in the weeks after the quake.
AFP journalists visiting the area on Thursday found the site completely flattened with heavy machinery operating there.
Turkish prosecutors are seeking a jail term of 22 years and six months for each of the eight suspects, including contractor Mehmet Yasar Coskun who has pleaded not guilty.
“What would happen if you loaded 30 tons into a 10-ton capacity truck?” he asked the judge on Thursday, via video link.
“This is what exactly happened to our building,” he said, pointing to the intensity and duration of the quake.
The eight suspects are charged with “causing death through conscious negligence.” Four of them are in pre-trial detention, while one is still at large.
But even if the suspects receive the maximum sentence, the families say it will never be enough.
“I will never forgive those responsible,” said Kismet Kosar, 41, who lost her two sisters, their husbands and two nephews at Ronesans.
“I will follow this case until my dying breath ... 22 years for the suspects is not enough,” she told AFP. “We are dying everyday.”
The contractors and project developers insist all the permits were correctly issued after studies by the municipality and the oversight company.
But to the dismay of the families, no municipal official has been called to account over the case as that would require permission from the interior ministry.
“I have tremendous pain which will never be eased,” said Candarli whose sister moved to Ronesans from Izmir after getting married.
“My sister was my other half. We were born on the same day even though I was four years older,” she said.
“She was my birthday gift.”