Naci Görür comments on Erdoğan's controversial Hatay remarks: 'A local government alone cannot prepare a city for an earthquake despite the central government'

Geoscientist Prof. Dr. Naci Görür said, "The people who personally manage those cities, the scientists, knew years in advance that an earthquake would come here. They knew it, but apparently they did not do what was necessary. I understand that from the losses we have suffered."

Geoscientist Prof. Dr. Naci Görür was a guest on the program "Özel Röportaj" (Special Interview) hosted by İpek Özbey on Sözcü TV.

Answering questions on the anniversary of the February 6 earthquakes, Görür made striking statements.

"WE ALL FAILED THE TEST"

"If you look at events from a scientific perspective, we all failed the test in this earthquake," said Görür, adding, "None of us could fulfill our duty and the requirements of the job, what needed to be done. Moreover, we could not do it even though this was no surprise to us. The arrival of this earthquake could have been predicted much earlier. This prediction was reported to all authorized bodies. Let's say, if I put the central government aside, they knew it too, but the people in local governments who personally manage those cities, the scientists, knew years in advance that an earthquake would come here. They knew it, but apparently they did not do what was necessary. I understand that from the losses we have suffered."

"If they had taken the warnings of the scientific world seriously—I made warnings there for years—and started to take the necessary precautions, we might have saved many people today," said Görür, adding, "Doesn't saving even one person require acting with all self-sacrifice and working with all our might? Forget one person, if we had listened to the scientific world, we could have saved thousands, tens of thousands."

"THEY DO NOT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY"

Görür continued his words as follows:

"They do not take it seriously. I said we all failed the test; while sharing the pain of all grieving families and earthquake victims as a human being and respecting them, I also include them in this failure. Because they didn't do anything either. There was no one on that line from Adıyaman to Hatay who hadn't heard that an earthquake was coming. Perhaps people who isolated themselves from the world didn't hear it, but we wrote about it for years. We announced it on social media, we tweeted.

In every earthquake, in the 3, 4, 5-magnitude earthquakes, when the entire press asked us, especially after the 2020 Elazığ earthquake, 'Professor, where do you expect an earthquake?', we would fold one of our fingers and say Maraş, we would say Hatay. I know this from the tweets I received. Even though it was said and heard that this earthquake would come, no official moved to do anything. What could be the reason for this? It means they don't take the job seriously."

"THEY USE FATE FOR THEIR OWN INTERESTS"

'When you say it's tied to fate,' as a scientist, I would like to evaluate the event as scientifically as possible. We are all Muslims. We were born into a Muslim family, we grew up as Muslims, and we are people who have in our hearts those who represent Islam in our country, whether they do what is required or not. The manners and upbringing we received from what we read, what we heard, and our family do not define fate this way. Those who define fate in this way use fate for their own interests. They use this word 'fate' to maintain their own interests, their sovereignty, and their own systems. Therefore, they are also slandering our religion. They are also slandering the Almighty Allah we believe in."

“A LOCAL GOVERNMENT ALONE CANNOT PREPARE A CITY FOR AN EARTHQUAKE DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT!”

Görür also referred to Erdoğan's controversial Hatay remarks as follows:

"This sentence is correct: 'If the central government, local government, and the public act hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, with cooperation and unity of power, we can prepare that city for an earthquake.' A local government alone cannot prepare that city for an earthquake despite the government. Take the Istanbul example; if the government and the municipality bicker, we cannot prepare Istanbul for an earthquake. This cooperation, this unity of power—I don't even want to hear it scientifically that 'I will provide this if you vote for me, or if you vote for him.' I hope those who said it didn't mean that.

All politicians, thank God, know my attitude above politics. I look at the job scientifically. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) published a book. I also write in that book, and I am an editor. That book has 3 editors, one of whom is me. I never look at Kanal Istanbul politically. As a scientist, as a geoscientist, I look at whether Kanal Istanbul is right or not. There are live, active faults within the route where Kanal Istanbul passes. These faults start from the Sazlıdere Dam. They start from the dam north of Küçükçekmece, they come, they are inside Küçükçekmece. They come from Küçükçekmece to the Sea of Marmara. They cut the continental shelf of the Sea of Marmara. From there, the continental slope comes and connects to the Kumburgaz fault, which will produce an earthquake. When an earthquake happens, these faults will be triggered. They won't leave any canal there. They will toss the canal around like carded wool. At the very least, up to the Sazlıdere Dam, and the sea will take that place in. You would lose that place entirely."

News Source: 12punto