Whatever happened to 'only the municipality is responsible'?

Our agenda is so full of political turmoil, disasters, and scandals that we quickly forget the agenda items we debated for days and don't even look back…

The "Who is responsible?" debate that took place after the fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya, where 78 of our people lost their lives, was one of these. The issue of responsibility was a lively topic of debate on television channels.

Let me remind you, the pro-government media, which at the time ran headlines such as "Whoever holds the seal is responsible" (Türkiye), "9 burning questions" (Yeni Şafak), "You are a murderer, Tanju" (Yeni Akit), and "He said the responsibility is not ours" (Akşam), argued that the responsibility lay entirely with the Bolu Municipality and its fire department. Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan was also running from program to program, saying that the authority for inspection belonged to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Minister M. Nuri Ersoy appeared on CNN Türk only once, and he too passed the buck to the municipality.

The opposition media also ignored the responsibility of the CHP-run Bolu Municipality and the failure to take action regarding the negative report prepared by the fire department. We saw reports there as well, such as "Ministry confession from the hotel owner" (Cumhuriyet) and "All roads lead to the ministry" (BirGün).

"Ministries are also responsible and influential"

The expert report was published last week. As might be expected, the Anadolu Agency's report on the findings did not receive much coverage in the media. The report, which stated that the hotel owners and managers were primarily at fault, emphasized the responsibilities of all institutions, from the ministries to the municipality:

"The officials of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, who issued and approved the hotel's operating license, remained insufficient in the inspection processes in the incident under investigation; the Bolu Provincial Special Administration officials did not carry out the necessary inspections in a timely and proper manner; the Bolu Municipality Fire Department officials carried out all necessary inspections in a careless and inadequate manner and did not properly process the existing deficiencies; and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security officials did not carry out the necessary inspections in a timely and proper manner, thus being primarily influential."

The report refuted all of M. Nuri Ersoy's statements and the part of Tanju Özcan's defense regarding the fire department. Most importantly, it showed how a biased perspective affects the reporting of facts in such a grave incident.

Now is the time for self-criticism

However, while the report emphasized the responsibility of all institutions, especially the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç spoke as if only the Bolu Municipality and its fire department were blamed in the report:

"Now they see that there are only their own friends in the report to object to. They are included too. Both the municipality and the fire department are responsible, but they thought someone would be taken out of the scope of responsibility. Are they speaking up now? If so, come out and say, 'Yes, we did wrong.' If you are silent in the face of the report, then you are hypocritical."

Minister Tunç cannot have failed to read the entire report. While the report addresses the deficiencies, errors, and responsibilities of two ministries and the governor's office along with the municipality, Minister Tunç's decision to merely criticize the opposition is an attitude that does not befit his identity as a legal professional. I wish he could engage in self-criticism and apologize to the relatives of those who lost their lives in the fire and to the entire society for trying to cover up the ministries' responsibility in the days following the fire.

Undoubtedly, the Minister of Culture and Tourism M. Nuri Ersoy, the Governor of Bolu Abdülaziz Aydın, and the Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan also have an obligation to engage in self-criticism and offer an apology.

In addition to them, all media organizations must also examine their news, articles, and commentaries regarding the fire in light of this report and engage in self-criticism. Especially the pro-government media that defended the Minister of Culture and Tourism so fiercely...