Trial begins over deadly Isias Hotel collapse

ADIYAMAN

The trial of Isias Hotel in Adıyaman, which collapsed in the Feb. 6 earthquakes and killed 72 people, including 35 athletes, teachers and coaches from Turkish Cyprus and members of the Turkish Tourist Guides Association, began on Jan. 3.

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, who is a complainant in the case, arrived in Türkiye and will attend the hearings with a delegation of 100 people, including three ministers. He emphasized that the Isias Hotel case is one of the most symbolic cases of the earthquake.

Imprisonment from two years and eight months to 22 years and six months each for "conscious negligence" is being sought for the 11 defendants, five of whom are under arrest.

The indictment accepted by the court includes information that the building was constructed as an apartment building in 1991, that river sand was used in the construction of the building and that there was an addition of an unlicensed floor.

Ahmet Bozkurt, the owner of Isias Hotel, denied the accusations and said, "Before the zoning amnesty was issued in 2017, I closed the terrace, which is now claimed as an extra floor, with a pergola. I did not use bricks and concrete in that section."

Bozkurt argued that the building collapsed due to the magnitude of the earthquake and stated that those who were trapped under the building did not die because of the earthquake but because of the cold.

In response to the question of the complainant's lawyers on how he obtained a license in a place where there was no ground survey, Bozkurt said, "When the municipality opened the area for zoning, they had to have the ground survey done."

Bozkurt also stated that he had cancer and requested that the announcement of the verdict be deferred if he is sentenced.

After Ahmet Bozkurt, the statements of his children, who were seen as partners of the hotel, were also taken. The children said that all authority and responsibility for the hotel belonged to their father.

Before the hearing, the relatives of the deceased children and tour guides held a protest in front of the court seeking justice.

The trial is expected to continue until Jan. 5.