Citizen had caught the fugitive contractor at a mall: Where are the documents?
Official documents regarding the investigation into the Emlak Bank houses, which became a tomb for 370 people in the February 6 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, are still missing. While the prosecutor's office has sent letters to many institutions to locate the documents, families are reacting to the fact that the documents, which should be in the archives, cannot be found.
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The investigation into the Emlak Bank Houses, which were built with state guarantees in the Emek neighborhood of Antakya, Hatay, and were destroyed in the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, is not progressing at all.
Although more than a year has passed since the earthquake, the documents necessary for the investigation to proceed still cannot be found.
According to the report by İsmail Arı from BirGün; the first phase of the Emlak Bank houses was built in 1994, and the second phase in 2000.
CITIZEN HAD CAUGHT THE CONTRACTOR
While the second-phase houses remained standing during the earthquake, the first-phase houses, consisting of 6 blocks, were completely destroyed. It was reported that 370 people lost their lives and four people are still missing. Subsequently, an arrest warrant was issued for Mehmet Özat, who was identified as the contractor of the Emlak Bank houses. Özat, who was not caught for months, was apprehended on November 10, 2023, at a shopping mall in Bilkent, Ankara, by Sinem Boyacı, who lost her relatives in the earthquake.
Özat, who was taken into custody by police teams arriving at the scene upon the tip-off from Boyacı and those around, was arrested and sent to prison. Sinem Boyacı, who lost her relatives in the earthquake, said in her statement, "He had been on the run for 9 months and is a person who caused the loss of many people, including 9 from my own family. I wanted to deliver him to justice. He tried to escape, I held him, and then I handed him over to the police."
WHERE ARE THE DOCUMENTS?
Although approximately 14 months have passed since the earthquake disaster, no progress has been made in the Emlak Bank housing investigation. The only suspect in the investigation is the contractor Mehmet Özat, who was caught by the relatives of those who lost their lives in the earthquake. Despite more than a year passing since the earthquake, the documents and information necessary for the investigation to proceed still cannot be found. The static project, plumbing implementation project, and architectural project of the blocks cannot be found. Although an expert committee was appointed within the scope of the investigation to determine why the Emlak Bank houses were destroyed, they cannot make any progress because they cannot find the projects and plans.
'THE DOCUMENTS ARE NOT WITH US'
The prosecutor's office wrote letters to the Antakya Municipality, Toroslar Distribution A.Ş., TOKİ, the Antakya Land Registry Office, the Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization, Ziraat Bank, Halkbank, and Emlak Konut to locate the documents. However, the institutions replied, "The documents are not with us." The relatives of those who lost their lives in the Emlak Bank houses said, "We want to determine who or whom the state-guaranteed buildings were built by, how they were built, with which project they were built, and who worked on their construction. It is not a normal situation that the building permit, occupancy permit, and building inspection reports are not in any archive, even though they should have been in the state's archives for many years."