Defne Samyeli shares 'this is a formal notice' post

Defne Samyeli announced that the fire alarm in the residence where she lives is not working. Expressing her complaint with the words, "This is a formal notice," Samyeli said, "I have been thinking for weeks whether to write this or not, in order not to take time away from this heavy agenda, but the first anniversary of the Kartalkaya fire has already come and gone. You know about that subject. Our general attitude as a nation is to be devastated and sad afterwards instead of following up on precautions to prevent such tragic events. The issue I am reporting concerns me, my family, and hundreds of other people in the building where I live. I live as a tenant in the residence building. It has been my fifth year; the fire alarm in this building has not been working since I arrived."

Defne Samyeli reacted to the management of the residence where she lives with her daughters, Deren Talu and Derin Talu. Making a statement on her social media account, Samyeli stated that the fire alarm has not been working in the building where she has lived for 5 years. Describing a fire tragedy they experienced in the past, Samyeli expressed that they survived by chance with the following words:

"A fire broke out on our floor two years ago. If my daughter Derin had not answered the phone from the reception at 04:00 in the morning, we would not have known. The security guard knocking on our door told us to leave the building. The living room was filled with smoke, you couldn't see a thing. Moreover, there are no windows that open in this building, only inadequate ventilation. We ran to the fire escape in our pajamas, taking our cat with us."

Defne Samyeli used the following expressions on her social media account:

"This is a formal notice. I have been thinking for weeks whether to write this or not, in order not to take time away from this heavy agenda, but the first anniversary of the Kartalkaya fire has already come and gone. You know about that subject. Our general attitude as a nation is to be devastated and sad afterwards instead of following up on precautions to prevent such tragic events. The issue I am reporting concerns me, my family, and hundreds of other people in the building where I live. I live as a tenant in the residence building. It has been my fifth year; the fire alarm in this building has not been working since I arrived. It was two years ago. A fire had broken out on our floor. If my daughter Derin had not answered the communication phone mounted on our wall from the reception at 04:00 in the morning, we wouldn't even have known. A security guard (who later had to be hospitalized due to smoke inhalation) banging on our door told us to evacuate the building immediately, or we would suffocate from the smoke.

The living room was filled with smoke, you couldn't see a thing. Also, there are no windows that open in the apartments in this building. There are a small number of ventilation windows called 'vasistas'. They are not even enough to get oxygen in normal times. In our pajamas, we hurriedly put our cat in a box and joined those going down the fire escape. Let me tell you the short version; under normal conditions, that is, in a world where the alarm works, if people were informed and flocked to those stairs, there would already be a stampede there. That's one thing. The second and more serious thing is that people were not even aware that a fire had broken out. The reason I am writing this now is this... Shortly before the New Year, they informed us in writing that they would conduct a fire drill. I was actually happy.

A repairman was working at home that day (by the way, there is a repair every day due to bursting pipes); we said, since there is a drill at 15:00, let everyone be prepared at home. It became 15:30, no alarm, no sound, no word. I called the reception. I asked, 'What happened to our drill?' With a nervous voice, they said, 'Ms. Defne, it is being done right now.' I said, 'What is being done?' The elevators were stopped. I asked, 'Is there anyone coming down from their apartment?' 'No.' I continued, 'What about the alarm?' ... The answer; 'It's not working.' A month has passed. What is missing in this one month, and at what speed is it being compensated? I am waiting for an explanation, not just as myself, but as someone who cares about the life safety of everyone living here. There is no one to talk to. The accounting clerk who defines himself as the 'building manager' told me on the phone in a rude tone, 'A detailed e-mail will be sent to all of you on this subject.' Such an information text has not arrived to this day.

Only one e-mail has been received on the subject. That was on the day of the drill. It said, 'Fire evacuation drill successfully completed'... Should you laugh or cry? 1,000 people live in this building. There are small children, families, animals. I called the acquaintances whose phone numbers I knew one by one that night, from the reception we were waiting at. Then, with the superior efforts of a few officers and the arrival of the fire department, the fire was extinguished.

I persistently followed up on why the alarm was not working that night and in the months that followed. As far as I learned from the technical service staff working on salary in the building, they were advised by the management not to give information to the residents about this issue, and even not to interact with us much. Speaking of building management, this building doesn't even have a manager. Because whoever comes as a manager lasts at most a month. Even though I bring this issue to the agenda whenever I talk to my other neighbors about building problems, there is a general indifference regarding the fact that the fire alarm does not work, let alone the general problems of the building. I can't believe this either, I want to emphasize it. It's a classic picture of my country, but the subject is life safety. If we don't take this seriously now, when will we?"