'We don't have the authority' defense in hotel fire that killed 78! Responsibility shifted to Ministry of Culture

Within the scope of the indictment prepared regarding the Grand Kartal Hotel fire in Bolu Kartalkaya, where 78 people lost their lives, all officials from the Provincial Special Administration affiliated with the Bolu Governorship, who are suspects in the case, voiced the claim that inspections were under the authority of the Ministry of Culture.

Suspect Yeliz Erdoğan, who serves as the Licensing and Inspection Manager at the Provincial Special Administration, also stated in her testimony, "Although the letter sent by the Ministry in 2021 mentioned the renewal of the tourism operation certificate, no notification was made regarding fire safety measures, even though an inspection should have been conducted for the renewal."

The Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has filed a lawsuit against 32 people regarding the Grand Kartal Hotel fire, in which 78 people lost their lives and 133 were injured.

The indictment alleges that the owners of the Grand Kartal Hotel, company board members and executives Halit Ergül, Emine Murtezaoğlu Ergül, Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu, Elif Aras, Emir Aras, Zeki Yılmaz, Ahmet Demir, Kadir Özdemir, Cemal Özer, Mehmet Salun, as well as Bolu Deputy Mayor Sedat Gülener, Acting Fire Chief Kenan Coşkun, and firefighter İrfan Acar are "responsible with probable intent" for the incident that occurred.

While the indictment requests prison sentences for 13 people for the crime of 78 counts of "killing with probable intent" and "intentional injury with probable intent," it seeks up to 22 years and 6 months in prison each for others, including hotel technical staff Tahsin Pekcan, Hüseyin Özer, and Bayram Ütkü, as well as kitchen staff Reşat Bölük, Enver Öztürk, and Faysal Yaver, occupational safety experts Kübra Demir and Ece Kayacan, Bolu Provincial Special Administration Secretary General Sırrı Köstereli, Deputy Secretary General Bünyamin Bal, Licensing and Inspection Manager Yeliz Erdoğan, and former Licensing and Inspection Manager Mehmet Özel, on charges of "causing the death and injury of more than one person by conscious negligence."

"THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM DID NOT REQUEST A NEW INSPECTION"

Suspect Sırrı Köstereli stated, "According to articles 22/c-o of the Regulation on the Qualifications of Tourism Facilities, inspections must be carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In the communique regarding the preparation and implementation of evaluation forms for classification studies, which was prepared in accordance with clause (d) of Article 55 of the regulation on the evaluation and qualifications of tourism facilities and is still in effect, all matters that should be included in a hotel regarding fire safety are written under the heading of fire safety measures, and the hotel's class and star count are determined by scoring accordingly."

Stating that the licensing process was carried out by the licensing and inspection directorate affiliated with the general secretariat, Köstereli noted that inspections were conducted by assigned personnel taking their areas of expertise and experience into account, that no new inspection request was received from the Ministry of Tourism in the letter dated May 27, 2021, and therefore no new inspection was conducted regarding whether the license qualification criteria were lost, and that there had been no renewal or update regarding the workplace opening and operation license after that date.

"PROVINCIAL SPECIAL ADMINISTRATION HAS NO INSPECTION AUTHORITY"

Suspect Bünyamin Bal, who stated that he has been working as the Deputy Secretary General of the Bolu Provincial Special Administration since November 2013, claimed that the Provincial Special Administration had no inspection authority because the hotel held a tourism operation certificate, and stated that the authority rested solely with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, adding, "Nevertheless, since the license is issued by the Provincial Special Administration, personnel conduct inspections from time to time. The Provincial Special Administration does not have the infrastructure or technical personnel regarding fire, so it has no inspection authority."

On the other hand, Bal also noted that there is no provision in the regulations for periodic fire inspections unless there is a request from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism after the license is issued or unless there is a situation requiring a license change.

"NO NOTIFICATION WAS MADE REGARDING FIRE SAFETY MEASURES"

Suspect Yeliz Erdoğan, who serves as the Licensing and Inspection Manager at the Provincial Special Administration, stated that there was not enough personnel in the licensing and inspection directorate, that she had informed her superiors that there was a lack of expert personnel in this field, but that the request for relevant expert personnel was not fulfilled, and stated that Article 9 of the Regulation on the Qualifications of Tourism Facilities specifies that if a tourism operation certificate is to be renewed, an inspection will be carried out by the Ministry and the deficiencies detected in the inspection will be reported to the provincial special administration.

Erdoğan said, "Under these circumstances, no notification was made to us. Because, although the letter sent by the Ministry in 2021 mentioned the renewal of the tourism operation certificate, no notification was made regarding fire safety measures, even though an inspection should have been conducted for the renewal."

In her testimony, Erdoğan also said, "As the Licensing and Inspection Directorate, there has been no assessment to date in civil inspection reports, Court of Accounts audit reports, or the annual inspections by the governor, secretary general, and deputy secretary general asking 'why did you not conduct an examination in the field of fire?' She stated that according to the amended 3rd paragraph of Article 5 of the Regulation on Workplace Opening and Operation Licenses No. 9207, facilities with tourism operation certificates are inspected only by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism regarding matters forming the basis of the certificate, and that one of the matters forming the basis of the certificate is the workplace opening license, and that she does not accept the accusations against her."